


Don't go reaching for the stars or you'll get burnt before you touch one

by obenio



Category: Gintama
Genre: Action/Adventure, Attempt at Humor, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dadtoki, Established Relationship, Everyone Has Issues, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Implied Relationships, LOTS of Parodies, Minor Original Character(s), Parody, Pining, Post-Canon, Space Battles, Swearing, Time Travel, Yorozuya Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 63,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24197359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obenio/pseuds/obenio
Summary: It's just one of those time traveling fics... no fuss, no muss.started: 15/05/2020ended: 26/06/2020
Relationships: Kagura & Sakata Gintoki & Shimura Shinpachi, Kagura/Okita Sougo
Comments: 11
Kudos: 60





	1. A Kamikaze must always go out with a bang

**Author's Note:**

> I've done it. I actually made another damned Gintama fic.
> 
> After the reviews on my first Gintama fic, I was motivated. If you're curious as to what this is, I don't know the answer also. But I hope you like it.

> _A Kamikaze must always go out with a bang_

* * *

According to the job description, it had been totally obvious that there were _occupational_ _hazards_.

This current concept though was understating it. While in the distance, she could see the quivering and fuzzy images of the distant stars dancing about, all she could feel was the cold, endearing darkness, all she could hear was deafening sirens and disturbing whirs and buzzes. It was sickening, the way everything shook and crashed all while managing to hold onto something. Funny how it all leads to this, sirens and flashing lights, the trembling and the thrashing. She had enough of it. Once more, she implores to be spared from this nightmare. All her memories were in a haze, all about destruction, pain and tears. Tumbling and flogging around the cramp compartments of the vessel, for the first time, she had damned everything—and yes, especially those occupational hazards.

Considering the pain, the damage and the inevitable kismet approaching and meeting her eyes, the burden she carries was all too bothersome anymore. She heard about the usual blues when dealing with this kind of business—the alcohol, the depression, the pain and the stress and she had dismissed it, taking in the transactions without so much as a trickle of reluctance. Doing it a hundred times, leaving everything around her burning, bloodied and utterly destroyed while donning a proud smile of victory did not deter her to do everything all over again—just as long as she was paid. She would look on and found him beside her, every time, telling her to unleash hell but that man, that brave figure, was gone and she was to be too, soon. Only now did she understand defeat, in the most utterly shittiest and extreme way possible.

Honestly, if she were to control the strings of fate, she did not want to be there—she did not want to be in this battlefield, waiting impending doom. Rather elsewhere, so far away, about a billion light years away, presumably. She was not sure how far this journey had taken her, convinced that she was at some edge of the universe already, but nonetheless, she thought about home. The light years could never defeat the years of when she had gone away. The woman, clad in dust and blood and a rugged cloak, did her best to steer, using all the measures she could think of just so she could delay her doom, redirecting all the power to the engines so as to boost the vessel away. She had successfully rammed the enemy away to nothingness, unleashed the weapon she was tasked to do, rendering her job complete, and the rest was left to fate (and science) but it was now her who got caught up in her own ambiguous plan— only realizing that she can never pull away anymore. Gravity was not kind at all.

With all systems failing and the auxiliary power failing, the engines of the little vessel she was in drew closer to the darkness. She resigned herself to the fact that she was heading to the point of no return, no escape, no premonition. It was a known fact throughout the universe that a black hole was the most cryptic thing in the whole universe, merciless and savage, devouring everything in sight. No one knows where it yields to. There was no guarantee she would still be alive in the coming next and final minutes. Gripping the chair where she sat, she braced herself and watched as the monitors cracked, the display counting down to the moments of impact, the flickering lights that alarmed fate. She was ready to face this.

One last gaze implored her. The woman lowered her head and gripped the chain necklace flailing around her neck. No tears, no smiles, no sentiments, no goodbyes—just regrets. The mission was a success but she failed—everything had failed already, everyone supposedly gone by now and now was hers. She breathed names one by one, forcing herself to be oblivious to the destruction collapsing around her and sucked in a breath.

It was all black before she could apologize.


	2. Family reunions are highly overrated

> _Family reunions are highly overrated_

* * *

Oddly enough, family reunions are the most dangerous battles of life—or so Kagura thinks.

If anything, the battles she faced in the past was merely smidgen compared to her family drama. She might have prevented the destruction of a planet or two, broke a bone or lost pints of blood along in the process, but babysitting two grown adults who could not control the urge to destroy one another was an entirely different universal-scale battle, she could lose her sanity because of it.

It was not known to her why her damned brother and his loyal confidant were with them on this journey. Only that she grunted and gritted her teeth at the sound of his voice when he came to greet her with a kick to the face. Her father though, was not anymore improving the situation when their vessel became their next battleground, fighting it out with kicks and punches and insults and parasols. It was a good thing that her brother’s confidant was averse to these family squabbles (also, the possibility of a wrecked ship and that they will all die in space) and so they stopped them together, albeit earning a bruise or two.

“You dumb fucks better suck it up or I’ll personally throw you out this ship, yes” Kagura barked at the two injured and kneeling figures in front of her.

“Little miss, please calm down” said Abuto, her brother’s confidant.

Kagura huffed, Abuto’s calm demeanor affecting her as well, “Why the hell were you guys even there anyway? Don’t you something dumber to do?”

“It just so happened that your client’s target and our next target are the same” Abuto chuckled, “It was a surprising coincidence, really”

“My, little sis, could you at least be appreciative of our kindness of giving you a lift back to Earth?” Kamui, her damned brother, chimed.

“The ship we used could’ve had been useful if you didn’t crash on it when you suddenly arrived” Kagura retorted, “It was all your fault, yes”

“Hey now, it’s not like I did that on purpose” Kamui replied, his smile unwavering.

“Damn you, really” Kagura grumbled.

At least, she still got paid for the job. That was the most important part.

Kagura did not want to back out of the argument without a fight, but considering that her brother—her _damned_ brother—did have a point in graciously giving them a lift back to Earth (even though she was sure on the fact that he did purposely destroy their ship in the first place), supposed that she could lay off on arguing him for now. The other Yato members aboard the ship watched as she walked away from the scene, their eyes a bit sympathetic that she had to deal with this drama by herself.

“I want to beg but I’d rather not” Abuto said, breaking the silence, “But can you please be civil until we arrive at Earth? I don’t want to see my own clan members fighting, especially family”

“Aren’t you used to this already?” Kamui drawled, “After all the times you’ve seen me take on the Baldy, I supposed it’s become routinely already”

“No” Abuto deadpanned, “I don’t like it, especially if we’re in the middle of space”

The other man stood up with a sigh, “I suppose I should be grateful for this” he said, straightening out his grey outfit.

“At least Umibouzu understands” Abuto chuckled.

When the Harusame Space Pirates fell to ruins years ago, the powerful 7th Division, comprised mainly of Yato clansmen, had diverged. Stealing one of the last remnants of their fleet of powerful ships, they had engaged themselves on their own conquest of being the next great intergalactic space pirates, led by Kamui, the former Captain of the 7th Division, also rather unfortunately, the great alien hunter Umibouzu’s eldest. Umibouzu could not determine whether to be proud or scowl at his son’s ambition and even after kicking his ass a few times, he still could not decide. In his eyes, Kamui is still but a brat, even at twenty-five.

A known fact to his subordinates was that Kamui hates his sister’s guts, even more so, his father’s and so, no one dared to intervene when the father and son set their murderous gazes and intents upon one another. The little sister though, was rather civil and they would rather deal with her than with them, but needless to say, like her brother and father, she is also chaotic and highly formidable. This grudging family blood they share—Abuto would like to think of it as a barb stuck to their asses. A barb that was stabbed there by their mother, a woman Abuto thinks highly of, despite never meeting her once.

Whoever had the great Umibouzu wrapped around her finger and managed to have two powerful, chaotic and distorted children is, indeed, one heck of a woman.

“Captain! Abuto!” a voice called. A figure came rushing to the bridge, a frantic look on his face, “We detected an anomaly in the readings on our current route, you’ve got to come to the bridge now”

“What’s this about now?” Kamui asked, smiling.

“It’s weird… all too weird” answered him, “Our scanners suddenly went haywire—"

Another step then, all of a sudden, the compartment collapsed.

Lights were replaced with pitch darkness, the bulkhead crumpled and the overhead cracked, the sirens were blaring, almost deafening, overshadowing the loud yelling of the crew. Everyone inside the bay was on the floor, buried underneath the thick piles of debris, barely conscious and wounded. When Abuto came to his senses, he quickly shoved the debris off and got up blearily, cursing under his breath. He scanned his surroundings, seeing mostly nothing but darkness, but the hole in the wall was hard to miss, especially if something large was protruding in it.

“What the..?”

“What the heck is this now?” asked a calm voice.

It was hard to notice the bright coral popping out of the debris, “You’re alive” Abuto snorted, his tone rather impassive.

“I’ll kill you if you talk like that again” answered Kamui with the same jovial tone.

Dismissing the threat, Abuto sighed, “Whoever did this is either really brave or really stupid” he said.

“This must be caused by that anomaly your crew had said earlier” another voice came.

Umibouzu was sitting on top of the debris, with his parasol rested above his shoulder. He observed the damage on the wall, waiting for any signs of movement.

“There is only one way to find out” Kamui said, tipping his parasol up and firing multiple gunshots.

Umibouzu dodged every bullet successfully, much to Kamui’s disappointment though. Abuto had yelled at Kamui for firing at his father at the worst possible time but Kamui dismissed it with his usual jovial smile. Umibouzu though, was not pleased with it.

“Watch where you point that thing, you brat!” he shrieked, reorienting himself from the assault.

Another explosion and all of them fell headfirst to the ground. The floor trembled and more debris rained down on them. Umibouzu clutched his parasol tight as he hoisted himself up from the ground, calling out to his son. The rocks crumbled, and the man could see a faint image of his son, getting up from the ground and his confidant just behind him. Then, he heard the overhead crack. Hastily, the three Yato had escaped the room and into the passageway, before they heard it collapse. The ground quaked again and the three of them staggered to reach the ship’s main bridge.

“Wait! Kagura!” Umibouzu bawled out.

“We don’t have time for that now” Kamui replied, “If anything, that idiot would survive that”

Taking one last glance back, he propelled himself forward. Wordlessly, Umibouzu followed the two, cursing inwardly about his daughter’s uncertain safety. He could only do so much as have faith but even that felt very useless. When they had reached the main bridge, it was a different kind of chaos that met them. Suddenly, everyone had called out for Kamui and Abuto, explaining the situation to them, though incomprehensibly.

“Apparently, something just appeared from the anomaly and crashed onto us” was the only thing Umibouzu understood from the myriad of voices.

“Our bulkhead’s been breached, also the engines are damaged” reported one of the officers.

“It looks some sort of black hole” said another, “The gravitational readings are very unsteady”

“How could that be? If something like that should appear, we would’ve detected it immediately with our scanners”

Intelligible working and scrambling around the bridge just left Umibouzu dazed. Even Abuto was confused of the situation, carefully going over the reports of his crew, attempting to make sense of the situation. Meanwhile, Kamui just stood, calm and smiling, even.

“You understand any of this stuff?” Umibouzu asked, turning his head towards Abuto.

“Not really” Abuto replied, “I only studied a little to make conversation”

Suddenly, another explosion was heard, alarmingly nearby. Some of the Yato had grabbed their parasols, in case of another attack to take place soon. Abuto latched onto the control panel, steadying himself. On the other hand, Kamui had shed his smile, a dark and serious expression etched on his face, his bloodlust rejuvenating. Everything was abruptly silent.

“Tell me something” muttered Abuto.

“It’s a massive ship” answered a Yato, “A massive ship just came out of the singularity”

Sirens began blaring and a full volley of weapons began attacking the ship’s hull.

Nothing could be heard other than the symphony of whirring cables, loud sirens, beeping alarms, falling debris, explosions and the destruction of their vessel. Indistinct voices began to pour out and the large monitors flashed, showing a distorted visual of their attacker.

Kamui watched with calculating eyes and huffed in annoyance.

“Our shields are barely holding up!” the control panel suddenly bleeped alarmingly.

“Could we fire?” Abuto asked.

“They have targeted our torpedoes—we can’t attack!” answered another, frantically going over the controls.

“Fuck!”

“My, my, I guess we can’t really avoid a fistfight” Abuto sighed.

The ship shook once again after another fire.

“It seems that they’ve breached the bay and attempting to infiltrate inside” said another, frantically going through the controls.

After another bout of indistinct voices, Kamui growled, catching one last glimpse of the visual monitor in front of him before swiftly leaving the bridge and back into the dark passageway, ignoring the questions and calls of both Abuto and Umibouzu. Eventually both of them followed the scowling man as he marched back towards the bay where they were just attacked. He tipped his parasol up and fired multiple shots at the debris blocking the way, igniting it ablaze but he did not flinch at the fiery explosion.

“If I may ask, what the hell are you doing?” Abuto shrieked, scanning the destruction before him, “You’re just further destroying this ship”

The man did not answer and just proceeded to fire more bullets at the protruding object that destroyed their wall in the first place but then, the ground shifted and he ceased firing. Loud rumbling noises were heard and he watched silently as hangar doors opened before him, revealing a blinding light of white and unfamiliar interiors. Kamui’s eyes squinted a little, adjusting to the light. Before long, Abuto and Umibouzu had taken his side.

Whatever it was, whoever they were, they had fought off the intruders were their brute strength and savagery, making their way inside their vessel without losing a sweat. A series of gunshots reverberated through the wide hallways, countered by the shrill noises of advanced energy-based weapons but soon, the noises were replaced by pained and unhealthy cries as, one by one, their enemies fell into the ground. Kamui regained his jovial look as he licked the blood off his fingertips, “Sour, but okay” he chimed.

Umibouzu furrowed his brows in disgust.

They advanced ahead, unaware of which part of the ship they actually are. Perhaps, they did not think this one through at all. However, as they navigated their way through the ship, they began to notice the trail of dead bodies and wrecked hallways, control and interiors. It was obvious that the ship had been attacked before they mysteriously appeared before them through the singularity. They scanned the wreckage, finding the pattern very much familiar. Shortly, they arrived at what seemed to be the main hangar of the ship, finding a busy crew going about and boarding warbirds.

“What species are they exactly?” Abuto mumbled, taking a quick peek, “You have any ideas, Umibouzu?”

“Who cares? They’re attacking and destroying my ship” Kamui chimes gleefully, “And I’m itching for a fight anyway”

Abuto draws out an exasperated sigh, mindful of just how insane the captain is. Not expecting any sensible from him, he turned to Umibouzu, hoping for an answer to his question.

“I haven’t met with these particular species but I’ve seen an image of them before—they are from Planet Kromos, the Amanto—Krimons” Umibouzu answered, “That golden skin and ridged forehead could not be mistaken… but now that I think about it, Planet Kromos is millions light years away, at a different galaxy—why are they here at Barnard?”

“Let’s find out”

Abandoning their posts, they began their attack.

Voices shrieked around them and soon all of their enemies were aiming their weapons towards the revered alien hunter.

“Looks like they recognize you” Abuto remarked.

“Oi, I believe we haven’t met yet” Umibouzu said, landing another punch to his attacker, sending him flying to the wall. He raised his parasol and fired a shot at one of the warbirds, setting an explosion.

“That’s disappointing” Kamui replied, kicking his enemy down before somersaulting to land another kick, “They know your ridiculous name instead than of mine—when I become Pirate King, my name will be known till you’re forgotten, bald geezer”

Umibouzu managed to dodge Kamui’s kick and retaliated with a kick to his side, “Who you calling bald geezer, damn brat?!”

Abuto drawled, “Could you please not fight amongst yourselves? The enemy is still standing, oi!”

* * *

Biological family members might be taking the number one spot for the very bane of her existence.

Crawling through the crevices of the debris she was under, Kagura grunted and cursed at her predicament. Staggering through the dark antechamber with nothing but the deafening sirens and the noxious whirs of the engines, she hopes that her father and brother was met with something much worse. Climbing up from the pit using one of the sprawled wires with bruised arm and punctured leg, she thinks that help was futile from her current location. Falling from one of the hangars to the engine room below and alone was unlucky enough. Tripping over the loose wires, attempting to reach the communicator attached to the wall to contact the main bridge and finding about that her father and brother survived and took off mere moments ago had filled her with a little ounce of hope that maybe they would find her. Reaching the destroyed bay with labored breaths and finding bodies of unfamiliar species was just vexing her already irate mood even more. Apparently, it had struck her that her damned father and stupid brother had infiltrated the enemy vessel, possibly forgetting that they had another family member possibly dead, floating in space already.

The floor shifted once more and she had stumbled back, a loud crash had been heard from a distance. Kagura breathes deep and forced herself to stand, with her parasol supporting her body weight. She headed for the main bridge, finding the commotion, the tirade of voices, the loud alarms startling her. Latching her hand onto one of the chairs, she steadied herself as another explosion was heard and the floor trembled.

“Did my damned brother or father say anything?” Kagura asked.

“No, little missy” replied the officer, “They stormed out”

“I know I ain’t your crew but could you tell what the fuck’s going on?” Kagura asked, whipping her head around, addressing the crew.

“Some kind of singularity just appeared and a ship came through and crashed right into us” answered one of the crew, “They attacked us, targeting our weapons systems before we could raise the shields, we’re barely—barely holding up!”

“We have major hull damage” reported another.

Swears were thrown around the room but Kagura was heedless to it. Staring at the large monitor, she watched as the massive ship cornered their vessel. Behind it, her eyes could hardly register the revolving singularity where their apparent demise originated from. Kagura winced at the pain of her injuries, biting her lips to suppress the grunt attempting to escape from her lips.

“Get me a communicator, quick” ordered Kagura, “I’m gonna go in there and find them”

Kagura dropped to the floor, grabbed the fabric of her _cheongsam_ and ripped it, fastening it around her punctured leg tightly. Just as she finished, a communicator was handed down to her.

“What are our options?” asked Kagura, hoisting herself up with the help of her parasol.

“We can’t counterattack and we can’t flee, the only thing that’s keeping this ship up is our shields but even that is failing us by the minute”

“All the more reason to go there” Kagura said, “We’ll have to go in there and steal a ship—hopefully my dumb father and brother haven’t destroyed everything yet”

“Is she actually ordering us to abandon ship?”

“We don’t have anymore options, yes?” Kagura bawled angrily, “If you want to die, then stay here for all I care, but if you want to survive, we have to infiltrate them and steal a ship, yes”

At that moment, no one moved, clearly undecided on their options. However, the lone woman among them just huffed in annoyance and left the main bridge, cursing everyone inside the room under her breath. She rushed back to the bay, as fast as her injured leg could carry her and entered the hangar doors of the enemy vessel. What met her were corpses and destroyed interiors and she could only sigh at the trail of destruction her family had left behind.

_“Little missy”_

Raising the communicator up her lips, “What is it?”

“ _We’re can’t abandon ship—we won’t, rather”_ it said.

“Then, I’ll find my stupid brother and let him tell you to abandon ship, yes”

“ _We’re lucky their shields are down and we’ve already hack into their computers. We could only afford to guide you to where they keep their ships”_ the voice said.

“I’ll take it” she replied.

Barely dodging a missile headed her way, she lifts her parasol to fire a round of shots at her attackers. She lunges at them, punching and kicking her way through the horde of golden-skinned (presumably) Amanto. Blood spilled down her white long-sleeved _cheongsam_ and she could only huff in frustration _._ It had been a gift and it costed a lot of money. Scrunching her nose in disgust, she grimaced at her appearance.

Continuing her trek through the ship, she avoids confrontation as much as possible especially with her injured leg. Although she could feel the healing process, Kagura could only do so much as protect her damned leg from getting injured further. Following in the footsteps of her father and brother was not helping her though, as reinforcements continue to rush down at the same path. Kagura limped her way out of danger, hiding behind one of the empty and nearly destroyed control rooms. Panting and groaning from the pain, Kagura collapsed to the floor, her vision slowly becoming fuzzy. Only now did she realize that she might have a concussion, suggestive of the blood she felt trickling down her backside. She eyed her injury, panicking slightly at the immense amount of blood that was pooling on the floor.

“Hey, you still alive?”

_“Barely… you?”_

“I can make it, yes” Kagura replied, resting her back at the cold, dark walls, “I’m just avoiding a whole battalion of Amanto going this way for now”

_“I would—su—he—idden—ere"_

Kagura furrowed her brows in confusion and smacked the sides of her communicator, “Yo, hey, you there?” she asked, fumbling with the communicator.

The voice continued to go garbled and Kagura was already fearing the worst. Her voice gradually got louder as panic filled her senses. Hoping seemed futile as long, disturbing seconds ticked away while the comms buzzed. Eventually, it went static and Kagura could feel her heart stop beating. Time abruptly stopped for Kagura.

_“H-he-llo…”_

A blink.

_“Any—there?”_

Sucking in a breath, Kagura raised the communicator up against her lips, “Who’s this?”

_“You’re not speaking Krimon—thank god”_ the mysterious voice released a sigh of relief, _“No time to explain”_ said the voice.

Kagura felt her heart pound loudly against her chest, her nerves jolting and her hairs standing. Goosebumps formed all over her body. _That voice…_ she briefly wondered.

_“Could you help me—no, you’ve got to help me”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been watching a lot of Star Trek... I apologize for the lame parody.


	3. Don't trust in trust falls, just like that Vine clip

> _Don't trust in trust falls, just like that Vine clip_

* * *

Jutting his lips, Kamui was slightly dissatisfied with the sour taste of blood that covered his hands. His tongue could not be accustomed to the taste, which is all the more reason to continue devouring it. He strutted out of the chamber filled with fresh corpses of Krimon with his usual gleeful expression, feigning a deep sigh when he was met with more dead bodies, his insatiable thirst for blood could still not be quenched.

Behind him were Abuto and Umibouzu, parasols in tow, “So what now?” asked Umibouzu, turning to Abuto.

“We ought to steal a ship so we can get the crew out and escape” Abuto replied, “The problem is, we don’t know how to get to their shuttle bay and even if we could manage to access their computers, their language is beyond me”

“It doesn’t seem that they could understand us either” Umibouzu added.

“Does it matter?” Kamui utters, turning to face his two companions, “Either we find a ship or we just destroy everyone on board—I personally prefer the latter”

“But Captain, remember, our crew” Abuto reminded.

“Either way, we are saving the crew” Kamui reasoned.

“You should have told them to abandon ship” Umibouzu said.

“I don’t need you telling me these, bald geezer” Kamui retorted, not before the said geezer scowled at him.

“Besides, I know they won’t just abandon ship” Abuto said, “They’d rather fight to the end than abandon the ship”

“I could never understand pirates” Umibouzu sighed in defeat.

It did not take long before the three of them were surrounded once more by the Krimons, with big guns and other variety of weapons at hand. As they started to fire, the three fighters leapt into the air in different directions and began their assault. Parasols at hand, they fired their remaining ammo conservatively, but they all hit their targets to no avail. With great ferocity and grace, the three Yato clansmen pounded their enemies to the ground with no chance of getting back up. Kamui smiled all the way through, punching and kicking his opponents till they were incapacitated and bleeding all over. He kept going forward, licking the blood off his hands, meanwhile Abuto and Umibouzu staggered behind him, taking care of the rest of the numbers that came to chase after them.

Running through the white corridors once again, with now a goal in mind, they set their course for wherever—whatever they come across first.

* * *

The mysterious voice roused her. With her injuries forgotten, she clutched the communicator and gazed at it with bemused eyes.

“Who—?”

_“You’re one of the crew on that ship the Krimons attacked, yes?”_

_Not really_ , she thought but Kagura did not have time to explain it in detail and settled with, “Y-yeah”

_“I can help you escape by stealing one of the small vessels inside but you’ve got to help me first, y—lease, trust me on this”_

Letting out a deep breath, Kagura nodded subconsciously, “O-okay—what am I gonna do?”

 _“I need you to get inside that ship and get to any of the hangars… there are suppose to be cargo doors there. I’m gonna need you to find the manual override to open the airlock”_ said the voice.

 _An airlock to space? This person insane?_ “Lucky for you—I’ve already infiltrated the ship” Kagura answered, hoisting herself up once more.

Head hammering, leg pricking, bruises arraying, sweat dripping, the most rational thing to do was to avoid stressing it out further. It was never that case for Kagura, sadly. When she gets injured, she has no choice but to endanger herself even more—an unspoken rule she grumbles at. Kagura did not know what compelled her to help out this stranger. From her experience, blind trust in people always ended in disaster, only that she was lucky that some of the disasters were in her favor. However, she still trudged through the corridors, biting her lip to distract her from the pain of her injuries, breathing rugged. She kept a careful eye around, trying to locate any nearby hangars all while toppling over her enemies with her uninjured limbs and her parasol.

“Get out of the way!” she screams, before landing an uppercut at a humongous opponent, leaving him incapacitated.

She attacked her left enemies in a frantic rampage. Delivering punches after kicks with her parasol swinging at them for the final blow. Kagura caught their attacks, disarmed them with a swing of her exceptional weapon and retaliated with her brute strength. More reinforcements came rushing in and started firing their guns incessantly, leaving her a few scratches and gnashes here and there but she lurches forward, parasol open, shielding herself from the rain of bullets. She leapt into the air, landing in the middle of the enemies’ formation and engages on a full-on assault, using her heightened Yato instinct and inhumane strength to defeat them all.

Her damned family should be so proud of her for this, Kagura huffed, realizing that she is the only one standing.

The ground shook once more and Kagura fell headfirst to the cold floors. Her body spasmed, the pain of her injuries swelled throughout her body. All of a sudden, the ship rotated and found herself sliding through the passageway and crashing onto the railings. Gripping the railings with one hand and catching her communicator just in time on the other, Kagura lets out harsh breaths. Gritting her teeth and groaning in pain, she pushes herself up.

The floor rotates once again and found herself on the cold floor once more, “What the hell was that just now?” Kagura hissed.

 _“That would be th—ingularity—”_ answered the voice.

Continuing her search, Kagura descended down the steel ladders leading to, what she hoped to be, the hangars. She kicks her enemies off the bridge and continued her wobbling sprint, landing down just nearby the humongous hangar doors. She hides behind a pile of crates, gasping for breaths, and fishes the communicator out, “I’m at hangar two, yes” she says, “You there?”

_“I’ll be aligning my ship now—notify me if you already found the manual override”_

“What’s that suppose to look like anyway?” she asked.

 _“It’s just a big switch—you’ll know it when you see it”_ the voice replied.

Assessing the number of enemies lurking around the hangar bay, she lets out another pained sigh and dupes her head down for a moment. Before she could think about even reconsidering helping the mysterious voice, she leaps out from her hiding place and fights the multitude of golden-skinned Amanto. Guns pointed at her, Kagura pulled her parasol out and used it as a shield. Leaping through the air, she lands a kick at one of her enemies and proceeds to punch her way through. Sidestepping to dodge a beam coming at her direction, she fires back with her parasol, hitting the energy-powered gun, setting it ablaze. More bullets aimed at her, but with her quick reflexes, she dodges them all and retaliated with punches and kicks all while heading towards the direction of the hangar doors. She manages to infiltrate the hangar bay only to be met with more enemies. Groaning, Kagura shoves through their thick numbers with her parasol. Immediately, Kagura whipped her head around, looking for the switch she was asked to find but with enemies coming at her every second and at every direction, she could not focus at the task at hand.

Instincts kicking in, Kagura could sense the rushing footsteps approaching inside the hangar. She could barely understand what the Amanto were saying but she figured that they were asking for reinforcements. Kagura recoiled back, landing in a crouch before leaping into the air and landing near the hangar gates.

_“Oi! I’m still on stand-by, how long are you gonna make me wait? My ship’s gonna fall apart any second now!”_

Kagura grunted, “I’m still trying to find the damned switch all while beating some asses here—give me a break!” she yelled before throwing her fist at the switch by the hangar doors, forcing it to close, “At least, I got another problem solved, yes”

All the left enemies inside the hangar charged at the Yato, with loud battle cries and weapons aimed to strike. Kagura meets them halfway and lands a powerful blow, sending powerful shockwaves that flung her enemies to the ground. Not wasting anymore time, she searches the hangar for a control console, which was conveniently placed parallel to the large airlock hatch. Fishing out the communicator, she places it on top of the console, “Okay, I’ve found it” she said, “What now?”

 _“On my mark, flip the switch…”_ the voice said, _“I suggest you tie yourself to something”_

Configuring the rest of the console was easy enough and not long after, before her, emerged the switch. Fishing her belt from her waist, she tied her arm and latched the other end to the console, “I’m ready at your command, yes” she said.

Suddenly, the large hangar doors began to pound brashly, followed by simultaneous ricochets of bullets and muffled yelling. Kagura eyed the hangar doors carefully, wary that the reinforcements were attempting to break down the large doors. Her heart suddenly beats a little too louder after each pounding, making her agitated and anxious, knowing fully well that if they manage to break down the door, she would not be able to fend her current post. Kagura eyed the console instead, forcing to distract herself with tiny blinking lights. She waits for a word from the mysterious voice, finding the seconds slowing down around her—or maybe it was just because of the time dilution thing, that she briefly had heard of, caused by the damned singularity—Kagura wanted to bet on the latter.

“Oi, where the heck are you? They’re tearing down the doors, I might be killed if I stay here, yes”

_“Just standby”_

Cursing, she slammed her hand on the console. It was a good thing she did not accidentally press any buttons, but at her current mood, Kagura almost did not care. Every pounding noise sent her nerves jolting and her body shuddered. She was not afraid, Kagura kept telling herself, but just a bit anxious. At her current state, it will be difficult for her to handle an entire army of golden-skinned Amanto who seemed to have a lot of technological advances and bodies thrice her size.

“Uhm… whoever you are, you might wanna hurry up now!” Kagura gritted.

Just as she feared, the hangar doors collapse and the floor shook violently, knocking Kagura off balance. Dust flooded the hangar, making her vision blurry and sending her throat to a coughing fit. Groggily, Kagura pulled her ass off the floor and crooked her head up, seeing fuzzy silhouettes closing in on her, “Dammit!” she cursed, “They’re here—!”

_“Open it now!”_

Kagura clinched the communicator in between her teeth and hurriedly placed a hand on the switch. Using her strength, she flipped it to the other side and the hatch opens, pulling her, everything and everyone inside the hangar out to space. Various screams and screeches went past Kagura’s ears as the enemies were all sucked into space, as well as the vehement noise of air getting sucked out of the hatch. Her trained eyes watched as a figure flew inside at rapid speed, dodging the outcoming bodies and debris. Forcefully, her free hand grabbed onto the switch again and pulled it. The hatch immediately closes and she drops haphazardly on the cold floor with a loud thud.

Propping herself up from the ground to a sitting position, Kagura grunted, the communicator falling from her mouth, filled with her drool. She rested her back on the underside of the console, her breathing harsh and heart palpitating. She opted to rest her eyes for a moment, trying to reorient her senses from that experience, not noticing the figure came hurling towards her, dressed in a heavy spacesuit. When they collided, Kagura winced and grunted at the pain and figured that another concussion might be underway, “Welcome aboard” she groaned, pushing the figure off of her.

Voices entered the room, followed by mob of footsteps and guns cocking. Kagura groaned loudly. She could not stand up properly yet. The figure in the spacesuit, though, hastily stood up and fished something from the backside of the suit. In a flash, the mysterious figure lunges at the forthcoming attackers, knocking them down with minimal number of strikes. Kagura watched as the figure swung a parasol on the enemies, baffling her—a _Yato?_ Then again, when she first heard the voice, she already had a lot of thoughts running through her head.

The figure fired a round of bullets at the enemies in front, kicked the enemies on the side and twisted around to block the knife aiming to stab from behind and effortlessly, flung the Amanto across the room, crashing him to the wall. Kagura stared in awe, watching as the Yato gracefully danced around the bay, defeating every enemy Amanto in sight. She blearily pulled her belt loose from the console and followed the Yato out of the hangar with her eyes eclectic and mouth slightly agape.

When the enemies were all finished, Kagura warily approached the lone figure amidst the piles of golden-skinned Amanto on the floor, possibly dead for all she cared.

 _“L—little—mi—ssy!”_ came the fuzzy voice from Kagura’s communicator.

Taken aback, Kagura stopped abruptly and brought the communicator up to her lips, “Yo!” she cried.

 _“You’re alive!”_ it was another familiar voice.

“I could say the same about you, yes” Kagura replied, a sigh of relief escaping from her lips, “Where the hell are you guys?”

 _“I’m currently back on the ship, preparing evacuation”_ Abuto replied, _“Your father and brother went to prepare the ship we’re escaping in”_

“When the signal got cut off, I feared the worst, yes”

_“Where are you now?”_

“I’m in the enemy ship, yes” Kagura answered, “I went in to find you guys”

 _“They’re currently at shuttle bay three, we’re also headed there now”_ replied Abuto, _“Where are you now? I could tell you which direction you should go”_

“I’m currently in hangar two, yes”

“You won’t need directions. I know the way to go”

Startled once more, Kagura turned to look at the mysterious figure, now shed off of the spacesuit and helmet. The Yato, obscured by a tattered cloak, was looking right back at her with an unreadable gaze.

At that moment, Kagura wanted to scream.

* * *

Umibouzu rummaged through the controls of the cargo ship, figuring out what the hell does what. Behind him, Kamui entered the ship, covered in blood and clothes tattered, “Hurry up, old geezer” he said.

“I don’t understand this language at all” Umibouzu muttered, soon followed by a curse.

“I’ll kill you if you don’t start this ship up in the next seconds” Kamui threatened, while maintaining his disturbing, gleeful smile.

The ship shook, knocking the older man out of balance. Kamui latched onto the bulkhead, steadying himself, “More of them are coming in” he said, “I’ll hold them off while you work on starting up the ship, or else, I’ll destroy this ship with you in it”

Kamui strutted outside the cargo ship and continued his onslaught. Umibouzu could only grunt in frustration as dived his nose back into the controls. After a few more struggling and cursing, Umibouzu had managed to power up the ship making him smiled proudly at himself as a reward. He peeked out of the main hatch with his parasol tipped up, firing a few shots at his son’s enemies, “Oi brat, hurry up and finish over there!” Umibouzu yelled, firing another shot on the oncoming enemies.

“You configure the comms out yourself, old man” Kamui replied, before rendering another enemy incapacitated.

Umibouzu groaned and headed back to the cockpit. He rummaged through the flips and switches, finding the communicator so he could patch through to Abuto who was currently guiding the remaining crew of their ship to their location. However, everything was very unfamiliar—the interiors, the language, the controls, etcetera but then again, if he managed to power up the ship then maybe, he could actually figure this out.

Without warning, the ground shook, almost knocking him off his seat. Umibouzu hunched forward, out of seat, and shifted his eyes around from the viewport, finding his son standing amidst a valley of bodies, seemingly impervious to the quake, however, his smile was gone, replaced by a serious gaze. It was not directed at him but rather towards the hangar doors. Umibouzu watched his son silently, curious as to what would make his son stand still with a serious look on his face. Suddenly, he could feel it too—a strong but familiar presence. His gut wrenched, in a peculiar but familiar way. He had not felt this way in a long time, a feeling that was not gained in any mission nor the battlefield—not in a longest time, anyway. Confusing as it was, Umibouzu hunched back to his seat with wavering breaths.

 _A Yato… but different and strong, and yet, familiar._ Umibouzu paused for a moment, trying to make sense of his thoughts.

Suddenly, Umibouzu felt like being reduced to merely Kanko.

He could feel the floor judder, releasing him from his stupor. Umibouzu shot out of his seat and turned to see Abuto and the rest of the company rushing inside the cargo ship. Another explosion could be heard and the ground quaked violently once more. Umibouzu tipped his head up and caught a glimpse of Kamui entering the ship and pressing the doors close, the expression in his eyes still grim even though he attempts to mask it with his jovial smile, “Now that we’re all here—”

“Captain, your sister” Abuto reminded.

“It’s a shame she could not make it—”

“Kamui” Umibouzu scolded, “Abuto, where’s my daughter?”

“She’s on her way here” Abuto replied, “She went looking for you guys and ended up someplace different, she’ll be here before long”

Umibouzu sighed in relief before his trained eyes landed on Kamui. He was not looking at him but rather, kept his gaze intently on the porthole, “Brat—” he started, but Kamui only flashed him a knowing look in return.

As a father and a warrior, he understood that look.

* * *

Quietly, Kagura followed as the cloaked figure planted another bomb and activating it. She bore her gaze down that back, her cerulean orbs baffled and yet, raging like a violent tide and notoriously skeptical. With careful eyes, she watched the figure move, taking notice on how pale and thin arms rocked alternately, how the huge parasol was clenched on that bony fist, how big the gaps of the legs as they sprinted, how high and powerful the blows were to their enemies, the gentle and careful hand when setting another bomb, the long, fiery strands of hair that trailed behind the figure, escaping the notch of the hood. Even in the skeins of smoke, the blinking emergency lights and the hubbub of the deck, Kagura could only notice these things. Taking a good look at the hooded figure, she couldn’t help but think that the universe was playing cruel tricks at her, or that her concussion earlier had affected her brain in a disturbing way. Kagura wanted to bet on it—everything be damned, every perplexing thing she had encountered in her life was all thrown out of the window at those very moments.

When they had met with bright white lights once more, enemies had surrounded them, but the figure went ahead and cut through the enemies with ease with a single swing from that huge-ass parasol and Kagura could not do anything but wordlessly follow. She threw in a punch or two but her eyes were glued to the back of the figure in front of her, still processing the sight she saw earlier.

When the figure told her the plan of planting bombs at the enemy vessel’s energy core and engines, Kagura could only nod. She remembered the look in the stranger’s eyes (she was not sure if she could even call this person a stranger) and found the look of confusion and shock mirroring her own. Kagura forgot that she had been talking to Abuto that moment and felt the universe abruptly stop. Though, it seems that both of them managed to keep things together under pressure, Kagura wanted to commend herself for not screaming at the top of her lungs earlier and now. Both of them knew now was not the time and that they could straighten things out only if they manage to make it through and survive.

 _Still,_ Kagura thought charily, _this is too much for me, yes._

The figure was not in the best shape either, she noticed. Sporting some contusions and gnashes all over the concealed body, the cloak could only give away so much with all that dried blood, however the same finesse and strength was still there. She watches in awe once more. Kagura thinks that the person had it worse than her—her only sporting a punctured leg, a few cuts and two concussions consecutively.

“Which shuttle bay again?” the figure asked.

“Shuttle bay three” Kagura stuttered.

The figure nodded, swerving left to dodge a missile headed their way. Barely, Kagura managed to evade and adrenaline urged her to fire back with her own ammo. The enemy exploded in front of her eyes before she felt a tug on her arm, finding herself sprinting once more with the figure’s pale and thin hand clutching on her wrist.

“We’re near there, let’s just hope those reckless idiots did not leave us behind yet” the voice said.

Chuckling softly, Kagura catches on and runs alongside the cloaked figure.

“Why did you plant bombs on the energy core?” Kagura asked.

“These geezers are dangerous fellows that I was tasked to destroy. I thought the black hole was gonna be enough, but look at where we are” the voice answered, “I’m just fulfilling my job once and for all”

“Our crew mentioned something about the black hole appearing out of nowhere and this ship appeared with it” Kagura said, “That’s technically impossible, yes?”

“Well, it happened so it’s technically possible” the figure answered, “This way!”

Shuttle bay three was littered with dead bodies and a lone cargo shuttle was at the center, powered up and ready for flight. Kagura could spot Abuto peeking out through the platform, and heard him calling out her name. They both followed inside, barely making it before enemy reinforcements entered the hangar and started firing their weapons. Abuto held them off with his own bullets and intentionally aimed at the control console, causing the hangar doors open and the enemy getting sucked out of space.

Closing the main hatch with a push of a button, Abuto quickly breathes a sigh of relief.

“Why aren’t we moving?” Kagura asked.

“Who’s this?” asked Abuto.

Swiftly, the hooded figure sped past her and rushed to the cockpit, but not before getting tackled by Kamui, “You look strong. Who are you?” he asked, a feral grin hanging on his lips.

The figure kicked Kamui out of the way and hastily wobbled to reach the cockpit once more but was stopped by a tight grip by Kamui, only to have him flung over the shoulder and down the cold floor.

“Captain!” Abuto called, helping the man up.

Kagura ignored them and followed inside the cockpit, not before watching her father shoved ridiculously out of his seat, earning a bark from the older man. Behind her, Abuto and Kamui joined inside the room and watched as the stranger configured the controls and successfully piloted the ship out of the enemy vessel.

Before anyone could say anything, a large explosion followed and the viewport was engulfed in blazing red and orange, then it all went white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have already been roasted for the lame Star Trek parodies I pulled. Apologies...
> 
> Updates will be weekly, or bi-weekly, depends on my mood. Either during Thursdays or Fridays.
> 
> Please stay tuned for the following updates. ^-^


	4. To vanish endless ache, give me new ache

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Meteorfallen for leaving a comment. Also thank you to those who left a kudos.  
> Here's an early update for you~  
> Hope you enjoy!

> _To vanish endless ache, give me new ache._

* * *

It is said that to relieve an endless ache, one must give themselves another ache and both will just cancel it out. Everything becomes numb. In all actuality, it defeats the purpose but no one really follows them accordingly. Of course, no one ever knows how much of an ache they overcame without experiencing a new one and then, most folks mistake it for another endless misery and whine about it over drunken stupor. In the end, one shoulders another burden, then, everything said before just turns to be a bad paradox. Why this exceedingly useless paragraph was written is another mystery, but it depicts the pain of a bespectacled young adult currently chasing after a damned truck in the side of a highway while riding on a helpless bicycle, sporting contusions all over his body while bathing in sweat. The midday temperature was not helping either, especially because it was the seven month of the year which meant summer and that he was in layers of clothing and dark-colored even.

Damn character designs, if it’s summer then everyone should not sacrifice comfort for style. If he wanted to wear a fucking shirt and simple training pants then, let him. A thought that screamed in his mind amidst all that heaving, that pedaling and tears—yes, tears.

A man should not cry, but fuck the standards for masculinity. He’s already ruined that concept a long, long time ago that the term is never welcomed with him anymore.

So angsty, but so is the suffering he’s been enduring all morning.

“Fuck this!” he cried, ignoring the urge to just drive himself off the cliff and land on the, seemingly, cool and blue ocean. Pedaling just outside his current lane, he tries to overtake the truck with all the mustered strength that he, surprisingly, has left, “Oi, stop! Stop this fucking truck!” he yelled.

A car honked and zoomed past him, barely an inch. The young man yelled in fury, “Oi, watch it, stupid!”

Though honestly, he was the one at fault here. Bicycles should not even be in this part of the road, let alone swerving lanes dangerously. It was a surprise that he was still in one piece or not being chased by the police.

However, speak of the devil.

Familiar sirens honked behind him and the young man panicked. He pedaled faster, as fast as his almost worn-out legs could carry him, and swerve back inside the lane. Between the damned truck and the margin of the lane, he was mindful of his precarious situation. However, the police car was catching up behind him and all he could think of was how to shake them off.

Pedaling faster, his strength nearly at his limit, he reaches neck-in-neck with the car door of the passenger seat and craned his head up, “Oi! Oi! Stop the damned truck!” he screamed.

However, the driver could not hear him. Bobbing his head to the beat of the song currently hooked in his ears, he drives without care and attention. The young man was livid at the invention of damned earphones, they should be illegal (as if he never owned a pair of his own too). Anyway, driving that recklessly should be against the law too and so, if the police chasing him should catch up to them, then the driver of this damned truck should be held up too— _‘do not delay’_ sign be damned.

“Fucking hell, this bastard just won’t stop!” he cursed loudly.

The sirens grew increasingly and alarmingly louder.

_Fuck._ He did not want to use this last resort but he needed to. All for the sake of this damned request.

When Shimura Shinpachi described endless ache, it was the annoying burden of keeping his damned boss and their occupation in line. There had been numerous, countless incidents wherein he almost lost either his job, his jewels or his life, or in some cases, all. All these threats varied from the old woman downstairs and her subordinates to the whole government, but miraculously, he gets away scot-free. For almost seven years, he keeps surviving from some form of near-death experience almost every single day and gets to complain and whine about it almost every night. Just earlier that morning, when he arrived very early at the workplace, which was also his boss’ living quarters, he did not find him there rather, he found their giant pet mutt, Sadaharu, sleeping in the living room while a huge mosaic was left on his boss’ futon. He searched every nick and cranny of the two-story building but alas, his search was empty. It was then the police had come to fetch him and take him to their station without a word, only to find out that his boss was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and had been given a ‘drinking ban order’ for six months. He had been very irked when he was asked to sign some release forms. It had been a waste of a perfectly cool morning and his new outfit. However, it did not turn all that bad when a client came in, took them to a far part of town, borderline of the city and the nearby province, and asked help with finding missing pets. It was an ache that he was happy to shoulder, but he never thought that he would end up cycling in the middle of a raging highway, chasing a truck all while being chased by the police.

The client’s request had been very simple: catch their loose farm pets—some sheep, some ducks and apparently, their little girl’s pet piglet. Oddly, this particular client was different from the rest of the city folk, for his large residence had a little farm, but they let their thoughts fall out of their heads when what mattered was the pay. The search was made easier since it was not often to find rampaging farm animals in the neighborhood and found the first two within two hours. The piglet, though, was challenging but it was an advantage that the piglet had dark patches all over its body (according to a picture they were provided with), making it very distinct. They just did not expect that a farm of hog raisers in the same town had coincidentally lost some piglets to be delivered to butcher shops all over Edo and well… needless to say, Shinpachi found himself chasing the delivery truck filled with hogs of different sizes a few hours later.

He did not know when or how but he got separated with his boss somewhere along the way but he was too busy chasing the damned truck to even notice. Anyway, knowing his boss, he would catch up one way or another, although he had hoped that he would not catch him behind bars, being the one to sign his release forms instead.

Shinpachi steered a little too close to the truck, his eyes warily catching a few glimpses of the police car closing in from his side. He heard the police sirens once more and the incessant yelling of a police officer. Shinpachi panicked and opted for his last resort—which was jumping dangerously off the bicycle and latching onto the damn truck. His head collided with the window, the glass breaking at the impact. The truck driver screamed and accidentally veered the steering wheel out of surprise. The bike leapt in the air and landed on the police car’s windshield, sending the driver to swerve out of control too, but Shinpachi did not have time to care and instead, lifted his bloodied head to meet the disturbed driver, “Stop the fucking truck, you bastard” he eerily hissed and the driver found himself slamming the brakes a little too forcefully.

With the truck coming to an abrupt stop, Shinpachi flew headfirst, breaking the side mirror and taking it with him as he landed on the blazing highway. He stood up groggily, cursing and grunting with the side mirror latched in his fist. He limped towards the truck and found the driver staggering to get off the driver’s seat, all while screaming at the top of his lungs. Shinpachi ignored him and headed for the load full of pigs. Unsheathing the indestructible _bokuto_ from his side, he swiped the lock broken and unfastened the latch.

A hoard of pigs suddenly came stampeding out of the truck, nearly crushing him. But Shinpachi held his ground and searched the crowd to find his target.

Panic suddenly rose from his stomach when he could not find the piglet.

Another unsettling feeling churned at his stomach and jolted his nerves when he heard the familiar siren of a police car. Instantly, Shinpachi knew he was done for. He raised his head, coming face to face with a trampled car, with a shattered windshield, dented hood and scratches everywhere. Shinpachi was ready to bow down and apologize repeatedly, dropping his _bokuto_ on the asphalt and taking measured steps towards the car. The only thing he did not expect was the unmistakable flash of silver hovering outside the car windows, “Oi Shinpachi! What the fuck did you just do?” screamed the voice.

“G-Gin-san?!”

The said man swiftly slipped out of the police car with a look of contempt, “The fuck did you do, Patsuan?” he asked, repressing the panic in his voice.

“You startled me! You could’ve told me that you were the one in the car!” Shinpachi argued.

“Their damned speaker was broken so I had to shout but you were too focused jumping on the damned truck, you fool” he replied, “We don’t have any money for this and I was just released from prison!”

_So, he was the one shouting at me earlier,_ Shinpachi wanted to smack himself.

“Did you find that damned piglet?” Sakata Gintoki, his boss, asked, scanning his eyes around the mess his employee made.

“That’s it, Gin-san… it’s not here” Shinpachi stuttered.

Gintoki halted and grudgingly turned to Shinpachi, feigning on a smile, although half-assed, if Shinpachi could say, “Gin-san, it’s not here” he repeated.

“What the heck do you mean ‘it’s not here’?” Gintoki shrieked, “It has got to be here—you saw it, right? I saw that damned piglet get carried here!”

“Oi! You two crooks, I’ll get you for this!” yelled a voice exiting the police car.

Catching one last glimpse of the man in a tattered uniform, albeit still a very familiar police uniform, both of the men started to run as fast as they can, “I saw it—with all my eyes!” Shinpachi replied his boss’ earlier question, “But I’m telling you, it’s not here!”

“You kept an eye out on the damned truck, right?” Gintoki asked.

“I never let it out of my sight!”

“Oi, you bastards!” called the police officer, attempting to chase them.

“How the hell did you nick a police car—and with an officer inside?!”

“He was napping on the job, that idiot” Gintoki replied.

Both of them reached a view deck with several cars parked and a few people enjoying the view of the ocean. Scuttling through the number of people, they climbed up the railings and jumped without second thought.

Down the fifty feet cliff and to the blue ocean, they disappeared underneath the waves and seafoam in a flash before the police officer’s eyes.

* * *

Thousand feet of deep ocean and with two under average swimmers with no shore near in sight was such a daring stunt to pull but Gintoki and Shinpachi did not have it in them to regret it nor contemplate about it especially after causing such a ruckus on the highway, embezzling police property and kidnapping a police officer, all because they were looking for a piglet.

A lot of experts deem this to be the trend that was considered to be the Yorozuya method. A bold technique in the freelance world wherein they risk their lives and the lives of everybody around them, or sometimes public property or all at the same time, whilst doing a job. Those who attempt this method could end up fugitives and get thrown into jail—that is, if anyone does attempt it in the first place. The only successful people who adapted the method without being arrested was the inventors of the method themselves—a freelance group called the Yorozuya Gin-chan, spearheaded by Sakata Gintoki, a war veteran and a former rebel, who has severe diabetes and a gambling problem, but mostly has nothing to do. He had two subordinates—Shimura Shinpachi, the bespectacled young twenty-two-year-old man currently gasping for breaths while crawling pathetically on the taupe sand. Raven-haired, lean, tall and capable, albeit a little loud and dramatic, he is considered to be the straight man and a bonified virgin. The other subordinate was a woman currently not with them at the moment for she had other priorities to do, in space, even.

As Shinpachi dragged the passed out Gintoki to shore, he remembers that his damned boss could not swim. When they landed in the water earlier, Gintoki latched onto him like a koala and Shinpachi had to swim for both their sake. It was a good thing Shinpachi was stronger than he looks and was able to lead them to the nearest shore which was about almost a kilometer away.

“M-my… my glasses!” Shinpachi hollered, digging through the sand to find his glasses.

“Shinpachi, we jumped down a huge cliff and swam in the ocean, what the hell do think?” Gintoki retorted, fluttering his eyes open, “Be glad we didn’t get caught!”

“It’s the Shinsengumi, you ass!” Shinpachi yelled back, “They have our faces imprinted in their minds—they might have dispatched some squads all around Edo to search for us!”

“Whose fault was it in the first place?” Gintoki argued, “If you didn’t jump on that damned truck then we wouldn’t have this mess, you idiot!”

He did have a valid point, Shinpachi huffed, accepting defeat.

“What are we gonna do now?” Shinpachi asked, solemnly.

“Hide from the police first, then, we’ll hunt that bastard down” Gintoki replied.

With clothes and skin wet and covered in sand, they had nowhere to go under the sun without attracting attention. After those ridiculous stunts they did, especially Shinpachi’s, they also could not go anywhere without the possibility of being spotted by the police so they had no choice but to sneak in through the drainage and trek through the sewage pipes, enduring the rotten stench and the itchiness of their bodies. It was a good thing that the sewage pipes actually laid signboards of which street they were currently under so it was easy to navigate through the way.

They only had a few viable solutions left and that was going through all the butcher shops in Edo that was named Nomterey. It was a good thing that Shinpachi noticed the signboard on the truck’s hood and they were able to narrow it down to a few locations.

They couldn’t let down their client now. After enduring all those ridiculous stunts and a possibility of being thrown to jail if caught, they would carry on and find that damn piglet, plus, Gintoki was really desperate for money after losing it all in pachinko and paying his fine for being drunk and disorderly. Shinpachi staggered a little behind, especially with the exhaustion catching up to him and losing his glasses. His boss knew that it was his fault in the first place but could not help but resign to carry the burden too and so, he volunteered to infiltrate the shops by himself while he served as look out.

One good thing, actually the very forte, of the Yorozuya was their ability to maintain invisible to the trained eye of the police. After countlessly evading the Shinsengumi, no matter the circumstance, they have perfected the technique in snooping around under their noses. No doubt, after the stunt Gintoki did earlier, that officer had already alerted all available squads in patrol to keep a look out for the both of them. For the nth time that month, the Yorozuya becomes the Shinsengumi’s bittersweet eye candy.

After going through a few more shops that they know of, Gintoki and Shinpachi grew tired. It was almost sundown and that meant a much livelier Edo. The sky was basked in a lovely shade of orange that painted the whole city in its vivid color. The Yorozuya knew that they needed to head back to their client’s little farm at the edge of the city and tell them the news. Problem was how to get there—with no money, no other means of transportation (Gintoki’s scooter was conveniently still at old man Gengai’s for repairs), they dreaded the long trudge but coerced themselves to, knowing fully well that this is early punishment for failing a client.

However, before they could take a step, they could hear police sirens and a car parked behind them. Both of them stilled as they heard the car doors close with a loud thump, “Oi, Yorozuya” a painstakingly familiar voice said.

Not a second later, Gintoki was on the air, aiming a kick at the police officer, “Joy!” he yelled.

“Gin-san!” Shinpachi shrieked.

“Vice Chief!” called another officer scrambling to get out of the car.

With his quick reflexes, Gintoki aimed another kick at the officer, leaving him incapacitated. Shinpachi yelled in panic once more.

It wasn’t a second later when the first police officer moved, cursing inaudibly, “Damn you—”

Gintoki was still quicker though and kicked the police officer again, far-flung and into the middle of the road. The cars had to pull on the brakes abruptly to avoid hitting the officer, but still, he got conveniently run over by a truck and was sent flying a few more meters ahead.

“Run!” Gintoki yelled.

Shinpachi and Gintoki scrambled out, panic filled in their faces.

“Oi, don’t you dare run away, bastards!”

Stopping abruptly once more, the Yorozuya turned to look at the police officer, currently in the middle of the road, bloodied and bruised and barely standing. However, his legs failed him, resigning to kneel instead. The man fished out a cigarette and his lighter from his inner pockets and went for a smoke, “I heard you asses are wreaking havoc all over town again” he drawled.

Soon, an ensemble of police sirens and zooming engines were closing in on them.

Shinpachi was glued to the floor, his hazy vision making out police cars emerging from the horizon, “Gin-san..?” he muttered, his voice filled with dread.

“Don’t worry, Patsuan… I still have an ace up on my sleeve”

“W-what is it?” Shinpachi was desperate to know.

“Look at that pathetic tax robber” Gintoki said, pointing at injured vice chief, “You see him? He’s been blown to smithereens; it’ll take a while before his legs heal… with him out of the picture, he’ll be our ticket”

“And your last card?” Shinpachi asked.

_“Surrender now, criminals”_

“We’ll use our legs, Patsuan” he replied, slapping his thigh for good measure.

“To what?”

A second of silence before, “To hotshot outta here, Smokey!” Gintoki dashed off.

“Who the fuck is Smokey?!”

* * *

Swindling another bicycle, they managed to get away from the crowded part of town without getting caught, of course, not before yelling a few solemn apologies. Gintoki and Shinpachi arrived at their client’s residence around seven in the evening.

Every meter nearer their destination added more dread. Gintoki contemplated stopping and turning tail, until he reminds himself that the Shinsengumi are currently after them. Even Shinpachi contemplated hiding from both—their client and the police, however, his honor and moral code would not let him. Either it was the wrath of their client or the wrath of the Shinsengumi—he would rather face the former, so as to save himself from arrest and potential disembowelment.

“Gin-san” Shinpachi murmured, after seeing the property from the distance, “I’m sorry it turned out this way”

“Patsuan” Gintoki replied, “It’s not really your fault… you weren’t the one who lost that damn pig”

“Still, if I kept an eye out for it, then maybe all this would have been prevented”

“Like I said, you weren’t the one who lost it” said Gintoki, “Besides, they have to accept that their precious pig will one day become the _katsudon_ on their table”

“Let’s just get this over with” Shinpachi said, “I’m ready to wallow in shame and self-hatred”

What surprised them was that the client, who had come to their office that morning, was waiting for them by the gates of his home, looking rather awkward and riddled with guilt. When the man, named Sue Kazuyoshi (Gintoki was trying hard not to do a SKET Dance reference), finally saw them, he waved and forced a smile, “Sakata-san, Shimura-san!” he called.

“Sue-san” Shinpachi waved back.

“I’m glad you returned” said the man just as Gintoki parked in front of him.

“Before anything else” Gintoki said, “It’s hard but you have to accept that your dear pig might be your next _tonkatsu_ meal—”

“Gin-san!” Shinpachi scolded.

“No, no, it’s fine” said Kazuyoshi, “We tried to contact you but you didn’t respond. I wanted to say to our pet Koki was found a little while earlier this afternoon. We found her running back little ways near the farm”

_Wait, what?_ “Uh… sorry, what?” Shinpachi wanted it that he was hearing things. Ocean water tends to screw up one’s ears, right?

“We found Koki near the farm” repeated Kazuyoshi, “I’m sorry for troubling you for the whole day finding our pet—we’ll pay you for the services and a little extra for the trouble we caused”

Shinpachi wanted to scream but out of courtesy, he bit his tongue and settled with screaming inwardly.

“Yorozuya!” that all too familiar, ruthless, indolent nasally voice rung in their ears from meters away, followed by a missile launching at their direction.

In fear for their lives, Gintoki and Shinpachi attempted to escape, however the missile had already landed on the ground, sending them airborne with their bodies toasted and their hairs in afros. They landed a few yards away, landing before a pair of black, polished but worn-out oxford shoes.

“You bastards think you can escape us?” said another all too familiar, pain-in-the-ass, nasally voice.

“We weren’t trying to escape” Gintoki laughed, “Ain’t that right, Shinpachi-kun?”

“I’m sorry!” Shinpachi yelled, instantaneously bowing down at the police officer’s feet, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m truly sorry!”

“Oi, what the hell, Patsuan?”

Another explosion occurred nearly at their feet, sending both the Yorozuya and the police officer flying a few more meters. Shinpachi wanted to cry and grovel some more, Gintoki wanted to die then and there, meanwhile the police officer jolted from the ground, anger fuming in his bright eyes and once shagged hair turned to a dry afro, “What the fuck, Sougo?!” he roared.

“Oi, Souichiro-kun, I’ll murder you if you pull that stunt again”

“All the more reason to arrest you, _danna_ ” Sougo replied with a coolly attitude.

A skein of smoke fogged around their faces. Gintoki coughed, “Oi, I don’t want your germs and secondhand smoke, dammit!”

“Sougo” said the voice, “Just arrest these idiots”

“Die first, Hijikata-san” answered Sougo.

The view at his feet proved interesting enough. The Yorozuya boss lying on the ground, clearly pained and panicking, the Yorozuya cherry boy kneeling and groveling at his feet while repeatedly apologizing and Hijikata looking burnt and ridiculous. He almost laughed at the sight, his sadistic desires fueling even more.

“Just arrest them, you brat” Hijikata groaned, getting up promptly.

Sighing, Sougo pulled Gintoki up while another officer grabbed Shinpachi. He puts on the handcuffs potently, very much showing his eagerness. Gintoki was shouting obscenities at him, Hijikata and the entire police force, “You damn tax robbers, I was just doing my job like you guys, maybe we could work out something?” Gintoki added, after finding his threatening ridiculously futile, “Oi, that accident on the highway was not even my fault—it was Patsuan’s!”

“Oi, it was your fault for stealing a fucking cop car and scaring the heck out of me!” Shinpachi yelled back.

Sougo shoved Gintoki inside the car without a word and followed by Shinpachi who was still apologizing like a broken record tape.

“Where the hell is Kagura when you need her? She’ll get me out… she’ll get us out” Gintoki grumbled, “Oi Shinpachi, when is Kagura due to come back? We’ve got to make her let us out, I’m sure she’s rich enough to pay the fines, with the alien-hunting business and all, right? Right?”

“Sougo!” called Hijikata.

“What do you want, Hijibaka?” groaned Sougo.

“There’s been a crash landing, unknown alien craft. I’m sending your squad to check it out” Hijikata said, “I’ll handle the prisoners”

“You scared of some unknown aliens?” Sougo smirked.

“Damn brat” Hijikata muttered, “I’ll see to it that these idiots are thrown into jail, you have your squad with you right now and we’re close to the crash site so I’m sending the first division. I’m counting on you, you freak” and he promptly walked to the car and swung inside.

“Hijikata-kun, just admit you’re scared” Gintoki teased, smirking.

“Shut up, criminal” Hijikata said, “Unless you want to be charged for disorderly conduct and add more to your already overflowing penalty”

“Damn tax robber” Gintoki grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the lame attempts at comedy here...
> 
> After writing this story for almost two consecutive weeks, I'm glad that I've finished half-way through (or more than half?? I'm not really sure how long this fic would take). When I finish writing all the chapters, I might be able to update on a regular bi-weekly basis.
> 
> As always, please leave a kudos or a review. Criticisms are also welcomed.


	5. Daughters, sisters, wives and old hags are one and the same thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating way too early from schedule because I'm wallowing in bittersweet misery.

> _Daughters, sisters, wives and old hags are one and the same thing._

* * *

Older sisters and old hags are sometimes one and the same thing. Both are older and are far superior for a reason. Keep in mind that they can pulverize even the strongest, hard-boiled and most savage man in the universe, most especially those reckless, imprudent and pathetic young men who could not do anything without setting the city on fire.

When morning came, Shinpachi wanted nothing more but a long bath, some food (he did not eat lunch and dinner yesterday at all) and hopefully a few days of paid leave to recuperate himself. Sunlight glowered down the barred little window of the hot jail cell, leaving both of them in a worser mood than they already had last night. Sweat trickled down his itchy nape and Shinpachi immensely regretted outgrowing his hair. Currently, his raven hair hovered just above his shoulders and his bangs were swept to the side, but right now, he desperately wanted to cut them short or if he could, tie his hair back with slick gel to hold it in place and parade around as Masaki Suda—their mockery be damned, it was _summer_. Gintoki was also worse for wear—he had abandoned his white kimono and settled for his dark tracksuit to liberate himself from extensive heat. There were bags under his already-dead eyes and his natural permed hair was rowdier than usual. They both smell of sweat, sewage, sea salt and gunpowder, terribly starved and sleep-deprived.

“All of this for a pig?” Gintoki muttered for the nth time during their stay.

“Gin-san” Shinpachi replied automatedly.

He heard his boss scoff. Fluttering his eyes close, Gintoki basked in the little sunlight they were allowed to glimpse and sighed dramatically, “We’re done for… for real this time” Gintoki murmured.

“Gin-san, shut up”

“I could really feel it this time—the light… it’s here… in front of me”

“Gin-san… that’s just the sun” Shinpachi replied, hoarsely.

“No, Shinpachi—this is really it. I could feel the light calling me… pulling me in” Gintoki scoffed, “It’s funny though, after everything I’ve been through, I might have believed that I could’ve lived forever—like those Jump characters who never aged unless said so… I could leech off in this world with Sazae-san forever… what a childish thought, now that I think of it”

 _What the fuck is happening with this guy?_ Shinpachi mused. _He is becoming a different character all together. Get it together, Gin-san!_

“Those damned characters will never get to know how it feels to grow old and it just ruins the idea of living altogether” Gintoki reflected, “I should have lived… should’ve taken every day seriously and now, I’m taking my last—the light is here”

“Gin-san… stop that”

“I’m only what? Like thirty something years old? Ah… I lost count already… I mean, no one really cares about age at this point in life” Gintoki sighed, “I have not yet lived a full life, dammit!”

“Gin-san!”

“But I guess, I’m ready. I’m ready to face the consequences. I’m ready to commit _seppuku._ I’m ready for a public apology before I die. First, to all those who worked hard to get Gintama out there, then to Tomokazu Sugita for enduring me for almost fifteen years, then to Shun Oguri who had to reenact my shit in live-action—”

“Shut up!” Shinpachi shrieked.

“Patsu—”

“Shut up!”

“Oi—!"

“SHUT UP!” Shinpachi roared, “We’re not gonna die here—our new anime movie hasn’t been released yet, so we can’t die, dammit!”

Silence engulfed the jail cell once again. Shinpachi lowered his head and scratched his head furiously, “This is just… you know, one of those bumps, we’re not gonna die here—totally uncool for a protagonist” he grumbled lowly.

Gintoki watched him, a solemn look at his face.

“My, my, look at this”

Shinpachi shivered, Gintoki was aghast. They both looked up and saw a woman, clad in a simple peach kimono and long, auburn hair tied up in a high ponytail, her russet orbs bore placidness and softness, however around her, the room was coated by a dark and terrorizing aura emitting from the same woman. Sweat beads cried like a waterfall down both convicts’ temples and down their napes, their torso, their spines—fear arising from the pits of their stomach, disturbed and roused awake. The woman stood just outside their cell, smiling softly and behind her was a seething old woman clad in a dark kimono, a traditional updo and a lit cigarette between her frail and bony fingers—which all the more instilled fear into the eyes of men.

“You’ve been bailed” emerged a voice entering the jail ward.

“N-no, we don’t wanna be bailed—most especially by them!” Gintoki screeched, “No, anyone but them!”

One of the officers promptly unlocked the jail cell and pried the bars open. He left the area in haste, in fear for his own life. It was not just Gintoki and Shinpachi who could feel the tension inside the ward but also the officers present inside, even the damned police officer who just entered the ward could feel it too, causing him to accidentally bite a little too hard at his cigarette stick.

Still smiling, the woman entered the jail cell, “C’mon, let’s go home” she said, “You guys need a bath and I bet you’re extra hungry, right? These damned tax robbers didn’t feed you, I assume”

“Oi! Isn’t the crime we committed a huge offense?!” screamed Gintoki, turning his head towards the man on the entrance of the ward, “A simple bail wouldn’t have been enough, right? Oi, Hijikata-kun!”

“Who are we to deny the boss lady?” Hijikata merely answered, trying to keep his cool, “Besides, she and the old woman paid the bail and we can’t deny that, now get outta here”

“H-Hijikata-san, please have mercy!” Shinpachi begged, hanging onto the bars for dear life.

“Why should I?” Hijikata sighed.

Hijikata Toshirou, the demonic Vice-Chief of the Shinsengumi, personally knew each of the Yorozuya members to some extent. After meeting them nearly seven years ago, both the police force and the freelancers joined together for numerous bizarre exploits that forged a grudging bond between them that neither party wants to admit. Specifically, Hijikata hated Sakata Gintoki’s mere existence more than most people in his existing list. The other two though, he could not hate them. After spending some time with the two younger Yorozuya members briefly in the past, he realized that they were just young, naïve kids who are dragged into their pathetic excuse of a leader’s shenanigans. Both of them are very kind, fiercely loyal and extremely strong in their own way with talents that could do better than wasting it with that damned Yorozuya, in his opinion, but that was an entirely different matter he would not pry his nose in. Hijikata knew Shinpachi is a good young man whose intentions are very pure and honest but a little forcefully tainted with that damned Gintoki’s bad influence.

Finally, after so many years, he managed to arrest the man only to be bailed out by the Shimura lady and the old woman who is Gintoki’s landlady. Of course, he is beyond pissed.

Out of the blue, two bodies collided with Hijikata and the three of them collapsed onto the fresh soil. The man wanted to shout and reprimand the Shimura lady for hammering him (either accidentally or on purpose, he did not care) with these two idiots currently sprawled on top of him, but he stopped himself, remembering who the heck he is dealing with. Hijikata knows better than to fuel the woman’s wrath (and possibility the Chief’s too, for berating at his beloved) and get a taste of it along with the two convicts and so he remained quiet and shoved the two off his torso.

“Oi, get the fuck outta here already or I’ll disembowel you myself” Hijikata threatened, retrieving his katana.

“Watch it, woman!” Gintoki grumbled, rubbing his aching head.

“ _Aneue,_ just beat us up here and now!” Shinpachi pleaded, losing his left sanity by his sister’s unusual behavior, “I can’t stand by with you acting all nice!”

“Beat you up? Act nice? Now, why would I do that? I’m sorry I lost my grip, Shin-chan, my hands seemed to be still clammy this morning” the woman replied, “I cooked you both lots of breakfast though, I’m sure you’re hungry…”

It was torture that even the Devil itself could never endure. Shivers ran up Hijikata’s spine at the word ‘breakfast’. Not even a ton of mayonnaise could salvage that… whatever that was is _certainly_ _not_ food anymore, not _anything_ even. He had witnessed what that ‘dark matter’ that crazy woman called her ‘cooking’ did to any living creature and he would gladly commit _seppuku_ than taste that nightmare.

“My, my, so eager this early” said the old woman, puffing out smoke from her smirking lips, “They can’t wait to eat your breakfast, Otae-chan”

“Please join us, Otose-san” the woman invited.

The old woman shuddered, “Sorry, I already ate, besides I need to get back at the bar. I don’t trust my employees enough to take care of the shop while I’m gone” and then, she slowly went.

“Thank you for bringing Gin-san’s clothes, Otose-san” replied the woman, waving gleefully at the departing figure.

“Hijikata-kun… please, I beg of you” Gintoki hissed, crawling over to Hijikata, “Take me back to jail! Tell me… what should I do? Who should I assault? Better there than with that go—”

“Well now, the two of you” Shimura Tae’s voice halted every living thing in the vicinity, “Come on, I don’t want breakfast getting any colder now… let’s return home”

Frigidly, Hijikata watched as Gintoki and Shinpachi were hauled off by Tae with the same smile she came inside the ward with. To say that he was not also frightened by this was understatement. His insides were wrenching uncontrollably from the dark aura emitted around the woman. It was taking all his strength to remain impassive as the two men were dragged away, their screaming growing fainter and fainter by the second.

“H-Herpes me!” yelled the unmistakable voice of Shimura Shinpachi, before they were all gone from his sight.

 _What a nightmare._ Hijikata sighed before taking another puff of his cigarette, before conveniently smashed to the ground once more by a hefty body—no, surely it was already someone’s corpse. He ponders, he should know better. Emerged from the soil was the gorilla commander of the Shinsengumi, Kondo Isao, bloodied, bruised but face contorted with an ecstatic grin.

* * *

Like drunken geezers, Gintoki and Shinpachi arrive back at their office, staggering up the stairs and nearly crawling across the foyer, under the heat of the blaring sun.

Dressed appropriately and feeling much fresher, it was a huge relief for their writhing bodies. After the nightmare that was called ‘breakfast’, the two Yorozuya members finally got the beating they were anticipating which came in the form of dark matter. Sadaharu, their giant pet mutt barked in all eagerness. Before they left for their job request yesterday, they had left the dog in Tae’s care and she happily obliged. The dog was elated that his owners had arrived back, though very late, but still. He had greeted them by swallowing their heads and nibbling it till there was dripping blood on the tatami mat. Tae kicked them all out of the house after they took their baths and went about her business, much to their overwhelming delight. Still, it was midday in the middle of summer and they were dying in the heat, realizing that they did not have their resident parasol-bearer, they were forced to trudge through the dreadful summer.

Arriving at the office, Gintoki relished in the feeling of home at last. Sadaharu went inside first, toppling over the poor man and took his exalted place beside the supply closet and went for a nap. Shinpachi pulled the _shoji_ door close, finally letting out a breath of relief, savoring the silence, thinking that the storm had already passed.

Then again, it was always quiet in the eye of the storm.

Stepping out of the _genkan,_ Shinpachi barely registered the familiar whirring of mechanism before he was flung across the hall, the violent sound of an explosion rattling the whole apartment (and possibly the neighbors too) awake. He crashes through the _shoji_ door and landed just before Gintoki’s feet. The older man was not happy about it and yelled obscenities towards the door, knowing fully well who is the perpetrator of this heinous crime.

Amidst the inferno and smoke, the clattering of _geta_ could be heard approaching the living room and appeared a figure of a girl, with bright emerald hair and pale complexion. Her expression was unreadable and her hands were clutched on the mop, looking as if she is ready to fight someone. She makes her way to Gintoki and Shinpachi with silence.

“Oi, Tama! What the actual hell?” Gintoki grumbled, “You tell that old hag that I’ll pay rent if I wasn’t paying for repairs of this goddamn apartment first!”

She did not say anything rather just grabbed the seams of Gintoki’s trademark kimono and dragged him outside, with Shinpachi and Sadaharu trailing behind, calling out and barking at both Gintoki and Tama.

“Tama! Why won’t you say anything?” Gintoki barked, his ass thumping down each step of the stairs, “You usually announce yourself before you come wrecking our place. What gives this time?”

Still, the woman did not say anything and kept dragging him till they were inside Otose’s snack bar, just below their apartment, owned by their landlady, Otose. Tama hauled Gintoki up and standing on his own two feet and proceeded to resume her initial duties around the bar. Closing the _shoji_ door behind him, Shinpachi rushes beside his boss and their giant pet mutt, ridden with guilt and panic on his face.

“What is it now, old hag?”

“Oi, is that how you talk to the person who came to fetch you from jail?” Otose retorted.

“Your freaking employee destroyed my home!” Gintoki burst, “I can’t pay rent yet, much less the repairs!”

“Otose-san asked me to bring you here without word and raising suspicion so I just went with my usual approach” Tama replied, before going back to mopping the floors.

To put it, Otose’s snack bar served as home to everyone in the room. Often times, the Yorozuya lounges here, eating and drinking in glee after a long and tiring day. Most of the time, they could only afford cheap booze, the cheapest food and tea at best with Otose berating them for not paying their damned rent yet for the past months. Although Gintoki was sick of hearing it, he still returns to the bar every now and then, wanting to unwind and to enjoy the little money he had left. With its lively employees and even livelier customers, it’s with confidence to say that the bar had become a staple part of town. Otose, the old woman who owns the place, was just happy to have a place for people, of any status, to unwind.

Shinpachi took a step forward, “Thank you very much though, for paying our bail” he said, bowing respectfully towards the woman.

“Like I said, I only came to fetch you” she said, “The money wasn’t ours, it was hers” she cranes her neck to the furthermost seat where two figures sat, quietly eating and drinking what seemed to be lunch, “Thank her instead”

As if on cue, one of the figures stood up from her seat and greeted them, “Yo, I’m home!”

Shinpachi’s face instantly lights up with glee, “Kagura-chan!”

Sadaharu barks, delighted that his best friend has returned home, while the ends of Gintoki’s lips twitch into a tiny smirk, his own way of saying he is overjoyed to see her again. The woman, dressed in her usual long-sleeved _duangua_ and loose pants, approached the troupe with a warm smile and outstretched arms.

In the receiving end of what seemed to be a hug, Shinpachi spreads his arms to meet with hers. When their shoulders contacted, Kagura latched onto his kimono and threw him in the direction of Gintoki and their bodies collide on the ground for what seemed to be the nth time that day (and it was just eleven thirty in the morning).

“I come home after a grueling mission to what? To you two idiots getting thrown into fucking jail? I was gone for only one week—one week, yes!” Kagura barked, “I had to sacrifice my own hard-earned salary just to pay your bail to those damned tax robbers! You think this was gonna be a happy reunion, fucking dimwits?”

Writhing in pain, Gintoki and Shinpachi could not move, too dazed to do so.

“Kagura, take it easy with them” Otose said, fishing out a cigarette stick, “I think they had enough beating for today”

Huffing, the woman finally calmed down. Sadaharu nudged her with matching puppy eyes, probably telling her the same thing too. She returned the gesture with a smile and affectionate strokes on his fur. A cloaked figure sauntered past them and reached both hands out towards the two downed men, helping them get back up their feet.

“I don’t think we’ve met” Gintoki noted, taking a good look at the figure.

Under the hood, Gintoki noticed that the figure was wearing a helmet and heavily-tinted goggles, obscuring its identity. Shorter than him by a few inches and flaunting a leaner frame, the figure was wearing all layers and shades of grey underneath the ragged cloak. He almost snorted, finding the lame style almost resembling Umibouzu’s. What sat uncomfortably with him was how intense whoever-this-is’ gaze towards him. Even underneath all those layers, he could not be mistaken, whatever those eyes are, it was penetrating his own.

“Who’s this, Kagura?” Gintoki asked, “Some sort of Umibouzu cosplayer?”

It was the person in question whom responded, with only a shake of the head sideways.

“Kagura-chan, who’s this?” Shinpachi asked, turning to Kagura.

Cerulean eyes that was once gleaming and teaming with life like an ocean in the summer was tinted with a little grey. Uncertainty was etched in her expression and it settled feebly on both Shinpachi and Gintoki. Kagura turned to the figure who was looking back at her and she could feel the same emotions radiate from it. Discreetly as possible, the figure shakes its head, _no._

“Just a friend I picked up on my mission, yes” Kagura replied, “My friend wanted to explore Edo for the meantime so we’re planning on going around, yes”

Somehow, her yeses were a way to convince herself too.

She could feel Tama, Catherine and Otose’s gazes prodding down at her, but Kagura could not be bothered right now, at least, show that she is.

Gintoki did not want to be convinced of it but he simply nodded, “A Yato too? Those layers seem too heavy” he asked instead.

“Yes, it’s just that, not all Yato are still used to sunlight like me” Kagura replied, “My friend here lived with minimal sunlight and only experienced it full-on right now, yes”

“So how long are you staying for this time?” Gintoki asked.

“I don’t know” Kagura replied, “It’s really all up to Papi”

Ever since Kagura joined her father’s alien-hunting business when she turned eighteen, she had been spending weeks, borderline a month, out in space and coming back with trinkets from her missions, stories and a spark in her eyes that was never ignited before during those years she had been with the Yorozuya. Add to that, her pay was essentially, infinitely better than what Gintoki could offer, even if by other bounty hunter standards, it is measly pay from desperate people. Kagura accepts what she could get. She was not really picky about pay, as long as she can buy _sukonbu_ afterwards. When she returns home, usually she stays for a month or two before her father calls her back into action and both men of the Yorozuya had deal with jobs by themselves again for the time being. Gintoki has to admit, it was nice to finally have some silence around the apartment, but sometimes, when Kagura comes home, he could not help but invite all the noise and chaos as he could and hoard them in his memories. Nights were lonely, even if Sadaharu is by his side, and so he, sometimes, in the back of his head, replays the noise to get some sleep.

Raising a hand, Gintoki puts it over Kagura’s head and pats it, “Thank you, Kagura” he said, with a sincere smile. Remarkably, the man noticed how much the woman had grown. Now twenty years old (turning twenty-one by the eleventh month), his little brazen girl did a lot of growing during the past few years.

 _Thank you._ Gintoki repeats, only in his head though. He did not want to get too sentimental.

* * *

Hightailing out of Otose’s snack bar, Kagura and her friend could only sigh in relief after getting away from calculating gazes and weird silence. It was a good thing that the two men of the Yorozuya (known for their snoopiness, especially when it comes to her) did not pry too much at the cloaked figure beside her. Although she was certain that it raised brows.

“Thank you” the figure muttered, voice muffled by the amount of layers.

“Why didn’t you want Gin-chan and Shinpachi to know?” asked Kagura.

Pondering about what to answer, it took the figure a few seconds before replying, “I’ve already endangered a lot as it is… Tama knows, that ugly cat and the old woman knows, that bald-head and Kamui knows, it’s best if I don’t get more involved, yes?”

“You’re not really endangering anyone” Kagura replied, “You saved me, Baldy, that idiot Kamui and his crew—to that, I’ll do everything to help you in return”

It was faint, but Kagura could hear a laughter. She smiled softly in return before a frown etched on her face once more, “To be honest, I’m not sure what’s happening here also” Kagura replied.

“We’ll get our answers” replied the masked figure.

“… at Gengai’s” they chorused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason for my misery (not that anyone needed to know but I needed to vent): I was supposed to graduate from high school today but because of the pandemic and three straight months of quarantine, we barely had anything done for the final semester, so we have no grades for output and we can't graduate yet. \\(T-T\\)
> 
> As always, reviews and kudos are appreciated. Criticisms are welcomed.  
> I'll be updating again on Friday... so stay tuned please.


	6. People will ignore their misfortunes and their interests when they are in competition with their pleasures

> _People will ignore their misfortunes and their interests when they are in competition with their pleasures_

* * *

Hiding in plain sight is a cheeky ruse to pull, when on a runaway from the local police force. That was then. Now, there was no need for the misleading sign board above his shop, but there was no need to change signs—like it was going to make any difference. People knew what business he was dealing in, knew of his crimes but they did not bother telling the authorities, besides, his regular customers were few and familiar, with no regards to said authorities or was hiding like him. Then again, there was no need to hide anymore.

Entering inside the run-down mechanic shop, Kagura could sniff the smell of rust, fire, grease and gas. Streaming in was the faint sunlight through the _shoji_ and heavy trails of dust and smoke danced around. It was always like this inside old man Gengai’s shop and yet, it was welcoming.

“Old man!” called Kagura.

Hiraga Gengai emerged from behind one of his usual contraptions and returned the smile etched on Kagura’s face, “Young miss, what a surprise” he greeted, “It’s unusual you coming here without Shinpachi and Gintoki—and who’s this? A new friend again?”

“It’s nice seeing you again, old man, yes” though muffled, the figure’s voice resounded clearly throughout the room.

Gengai scoffed, “Gee, you never fail to surprise me, Yorozuya. You’re shocking this old man’s poor heart” he said, “Alright, close the doors, then”

Doing what he asked, the two closed the _shoji_ shut and settled down with Gengai on the _chabudai_ in the next room. Kintoki, the golden-haired android, who happened to be there, wordlessly prepared tea and some steamed buns for the guests and left the room promptly, tipping his head curtly towards Kagura and his creator. Upon Gengai’s instructions, he took over cleaning the shop, himself. Fidgeting with its gloved hands, the figure silently watched as Gengai served tea for his guests and for himself while Kagura grabbed one of the steam buns and merrily took a bite. Silence was not their forte and the figure grew uncomfortable with it, but could not break it, not really knowing what to say.

It was a good thing Gengai spoke up instead, “Would you mind taking off that helmet and cloak, missy?” he politely asked, “You can’t eat in that condition”

With an inaudible sigh, the figure reluctantly slid off the cloak, revealing a grey Manchu-inspired coat, and the helmet, revealing fiery, shoulder-length hair and finally, the goggles, exposing bright cerulean eyes, “Old man” she acknowledged.

Still, it did not sit well with Kagura to see a splitting image of herself, albeit older, wiser and stronger. She still wanted to scream—perhaps, to alleviate her disbelief. The younger woman took a deep breath, assessing her older self’s profile once more—now that she thought of it, the woman looked more like her Mami instead.

“Little missy” Gengai replied, “Although I don’t know if that’s still appropriate for you”

“I’m only eight years from the future, yes” replied the future version of Kagura.

“Please don’t tell me this whole mishap is my doing” Gengai chuckled, “It would make sense though”

Future Kagura shook her head, “No” she said, “But I would—”

“—need my help to get you back?” Gengai finished the question for her, “Of course, I’ll see what I can do, but to do that, I need to be paid”

“That’s gonna be hard, yes” chuckled Kagura, “I’m about as penniless as this gal right here right now. Maybe, I’ll pay you from the future instead”

“Nah… not that” Gengai replied, “Getting paid by you guys is remotely impossible at this point—no, all I ask as payment is that you tell your timeline’s me about what happened—old men need a little boost of self-esteem, y’know. I’m dying, I need to feel glorified and useful once more”

Future Kagura laughed, “Sure thing, old man” she replied.

“Although, if I may ask…” Gengai pauses, “… if it’s not me then, what got you here?”

Future Kagura stilled. Her eyes shifted between the present her, Gengai and the table, “I-It’s a long story, yes” she said, “I don’t want to bore you”

“You can’t possibly bore me, missy” Gengai chortled, “Ain’t that right, little missy?”

“I’m never boring, yes” Present Kagura replied, flashing a confident smirk.

The future her could not help but laugh, “Okay then” then, she started her tale, “I was in a mission with Papi… we were asked by Planet Burukan to hunt down a Krimon extremist faction that had desolated an entire continent. Later on, we realized that Burukan was not just a random target but rather a deliberate one, as the same pattern happened with other planets. One thing led to another and we found ourselves hired by the Union, an alliance of planets expanding from the two rims of Galaxy Eye.

“Turns out, those extremists were targeting Union planets and since the Union and the Krimon Councilors signed a treaty, they could not directly harm the Krimons, even if they’re extremists, and so they proposed a negotiation, but the Krimon denied. To prevent a war, they sent me and Papi under the record, instead. It was then we learned that they plan to detonate a massive star near the Union main starbase and kill all the surrounding Union planets. Those attacks were just a ploy to gather all of the officials of the Union on their main base.”

“Again, if I may ask, how could someone detonate a star?” Gengai asked.

“The Krimons developed a device to disrupt a star’s nuclear fusion in its core, or that’s what I understood at least” Future Kagura replied, shrugging her shoulders, “The job was exterminating the Krimons with the devices but… w-we were too late—they already detonated it…”

Deep breaths.

She gripped the ceramic cup a little tighter. Her present counterpart placed a hand on her forearm. The warmth startled her future self out of a trance. She shifted her gaze between her and Gengai.

“Missy?” called Gengai, with concern.

“I-I’m… t-the supernova was m-massive and killed—killed the entire system, m-maybe stretching farther, but I couldn’t say for sure… I barely escaped the explosion” she choked out, in between breaths. She paused, trying to compose herself, “W-With the massive shift in the remaining Union planets, they opted for condemning the entire planet of Kromos to annihilation—m-me and Papi did not want part of it, we wanted out”

She exhaled a little forcefully.

“One of the surviving scientists from their research institute approached us, hiring us for a different job. They hinted that a massive black hole is starting to emerge from the supernova that could devour the nearby system. He hired us to prevent the black hole from enlarging by planting his invention, the Bim Particles, into the singularity. It’s supposed to shrink things and hypothetically, it could also shrink the singularity to a size of a Planck Length or possibly smaller. The mission was to get close enough to dispatch the Bim Particles. What we didn’t expect was that Krimon warships were lurking near the area…” Future Kagura took a sip of her almost cold cup of tea.

“So that anomaly that suddenly appeared?” Present Kagura asked, “And that warship that went through?”

“W-We were on our way there when Papi and I got separated by an attack to our vessel. I escaped into another ship while he led the battle away from me. I had the Bim Particles. Barely escaping, I had to continue without turning back. When I arrived, the black hole was already massive and a Krimon warship was getting sucked in. I had dispatched the Bim Particles… but I never thought I got sucked in too. I couldn’t escape this time…” she paused, “At that moment, I was prepared to shrink into nothingness, but I didn’t expect that it’d be a wormhole through spacetime and found myself here” Future Kagura ended her tale.

Silence.

She expected it. Even she would not believe such story, honestly. Both of them looked very stunned, their snacks half-eaten and probably forgotten. Future Kagura grabbed a steam bun and took a bite, relishing in its taste. She immediately calmed down, even just a tad bit. It had been a while since she had any Earth food and she especially missed it. Finishing one in a blink of an eye, she grabbed another one from the basket.

After processing her words, Gengai reached out and placed his hand on the woman’s arm, patting it gently, “You’ve been through a lot” he could only muster, “I can’t imagine how hard that must be for you”

“I did not like fighting in someone else’s war, but it came with the contract” Future Kagura sighed, “Plus, I needed a living. Yorozuya is not getting any good jobs lately, yes”

“What happened to the singularity?”

“Just as I got through, the singularity shrunk till it was gone” she replied, before taking one last bite on her steam bun.

Raising a hand to pat the present her in the head, she chuckled softly, “You can’t believe all of this, yes?”

“It’s not that… the mere fact that you got here through a black hole proves as much” Present Kagura replied, “It’s just that, to be witnessing that big of a destruction must be… I-I don’t know, I don’t know if I’ll be able to face it when I’m at your age”

“You will… I mean, I did… and I’m still standing, yes?”

“Well missy, I ought to start on making that time machine of yours” Gengai said, standing from the table, “I hope you won’t mind waiting a few days while I build the machine”

“A few days?” she gawked.

“Don’t worry about anything, if you’re worried about it, you’re not disrupting the time continuum, rather the mere fact that you came here proves a different chain of events already”

“An alternate reality?” Future Kagura asked.

“Yes” he replied, “Nothing like this ever happened when you were at this age, am I right?”

“I suppose” she murmured in reply, then she beamed, “Thank you, old man”

The two women followed Gengai out of the room and met with Kintoki who was currently rewiring one of Gengai’s robots. Kintoki bore a puzzled look upon seeing two versions of the same person but the old mechanic merely laughed, “You don’t have to act so surprised, Kintoki” he said, “I know you were eavesdropping, you brat”

The golden-haired android’s features soften and he simply continued with his work, “I won’t say anything if you won’t, Kagura-chan” he said, “Also, welcome back”

“We’ll drop by everyday to check up on you guys, yes”

“Yeah, yeah… now run along now, go back to the Yorozuya!”

Donning her helmet and goggles, future Kagura conceals her identity once more. Her ragged cloak though, remained draped on her arm while her parasol was clutched on her gloved fist. Future Kagura smiled at Gengai, “Really, thank you, old man”

Both of them left promptly. Sighing, the old mechanic turned to Kintoki, “Continue that later… we’ll have to work on her time machine first” he said.

* * *

“Tell me something”

“If it’s about the future… no”

“Awee… c’mon! Don’t be a party pooper, yes! The old man had already said that whatever happened in your timeline won’t really affect mine… so surprise me!”

“No”

Eight years older than her, future Kagura was distinctively different from her current self drastically. It was like experiencing puberty all over again, according to the present counterpart. A lot of people could even hardly believe that she had changed so much from when she was a young teen of fourteen, when she was still brash, violent and unladylike. It was not like Kagura did a full 180. She was still brash and violent, but puberty gave her a boost in height, a busty chest, a voluptuous figure and sharper features. According to her, karma made her its best bitch. She was proud at herself for growing this much, thinking that she had proven something. However, looking at the future version of herself made her stop and ponder. Has she really grown a lot throughout the years? Would she really call all those changes such a satisfying achievement? Future Kagura was much beautiful, mature, gentler and graceful, both in the battlefield and in peaceful moments like this. That voice… it was still unmistakably like her Mami’s (granted, they had the same voice actresses, but still). Her strength was unparalleled compared to hers currently. She also seemed much smarter—and it all feels so weird comparing herself to herself.

“You’ve become quiet” Future Kagura hummed, “Have I really become that quiet at this age?”

Out of her stupor, Kagura eyes her future self once more and smiled, “Of course not—this is still me, yes!”

Standing in the middle of the bridge, gazing down at the crystalline water, the two of them decided not to head back just yet. The sun was sinking down the horizon, basking the sky in a bright orange, red and yellow hues. Present Kagura was quiet up to that point. She had spent the whole afternoon walking around Kabuki District, gulping down her questions for her future self but eventually, the silence was eating at her and everyone had a breaking point.

“Alright fine… I’ll tell you something about the future” she caved in.

“Really? ‘Cuz I got some questions” Kagura beamed.

Being with her, Kagura could not help but think that future her was like Mami. Gentle and wise but powerful and intimidating, still.

It was everything she aspired to be and beyond.

It gave her hope.

“Well, first off… is baka nii-chan growing bald too? Does Papi still has hair? Is Abo-san still running? I have been borrowing the manga volumes for years but still I’m nowhere near the end. Will I become a famous and strong alien hunter? Will I have my own apartment? I’ve been thinking about moving out of that stupid closet for a while now. Will Gin-chan finally give up Jump? He’s already a thirty-year-old geezer, it’s about time he acts like one. Will Gin-chan give up gambling our salary money? Is cherry boy still a virgin? Did I become the heroine I always wanted to be? Is One Piece still on-going? Is the new Gintama movie a success? Did Rie Kugimiya release some new albums already? Is she still on _tsundere_ roles—?"

Future Kagura erupted in laughter, “Very inquisitive are we, yes?”

Blushing furiously, the present her huffed loudly, “W-Well… it’s not like I’m desperate to know”

Now her future counterpart was roaring in laughter leaving present Kagura puffing her cheeks in annoyance and face fuming red, “Oi! Answer me, dammit!” she squealed.

Pinching her cheeks, future Kagura smiles ever so fondly under her helmet and goggles, “So _tsundere_!” she chimed, “Aren’t we a cutie, yes?”

“Stop it!” the present her yelped, prying those gloved hands off her precious face.

Recoiling back, the atmosphere around them becomes flimsy and both of them welcomed the breezy feeling dancing around in their insides, filling them both with warmth.

Lavender colors stretched across the sky, with the sun taking one last bow as farewell for the day. Oddly enough, Kagura did not feel like shielding herself from the glowering sunlight and lets herself bask in it like it was her first and last sunshine. Future Kagura leaned her back against the wooden railings of the bridge, propping her elbows and tipping her head up in tranquil bliss, “The last time I was here, I was with my family” she said.

Prying her eyes away from the setting sun, present Kagura gazed at her future counterpart, “I was saying goodbye for now as usual, and that I’d page them when I have time” future Kagura continued, “… that was a year ago”

Present Kagura could not help but feel shocked. She watched as her future counterpart shifted her position. With her body turned around and hunching forward, elbows propped up on the railings, she sighed forlornly, “I bet Gin-chan and Shinpachi are hella annoyed and that Sadaharu misses me a lot, yes”

“Of course… and wait till they hear what happened, yes.”

“When I get back, I’m gonna try to spend some time off on the alien-hunting for a while, yes.” Looking up from the water, “My family needs me first”

“When did they last heard from you?”

“About a month ago, I suppose?” she said, resting her chin against her palm, “It was a little before me and Papi had set out to find the extremists who had the devices”

A bad feeling settled inside future Kagura, “I wonder what happened to Papi” she mumbled, “The last time I saw him… well, back in my timeline… the last time I saw him was when he told me I had to dispatch the Bim Particles myself and that he was gonna be fine and that I should take care”

Resting her hand on those slumped shoulders, present Kagura patted it comfortingly, “If Papi says he’ll be fine, he most certainly is” she reassured, “Now, we oughtta get you back there so you can say to his face that you did it, yes”

She smiled.

* * *

“I gotta say, tagging along a shady and illegal immigrant, crash-landing an uncredited spacecraft, destroying civilian property and hiding from the authorities—it’s a whole new level of low, even for you…”

_Fuck._

“I ought to arrest you and your friend there for this…” his smirk was provocative and his bright red irises were gleaming under the shade of the setting sun, “… China”

Present Kagura turned on her heels towards his direction, “Sadist” she addressed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What evidence do you have to say that I was the one who crash landed that craft?”

“It’s got your alien germs in it” he replied, “The blood samples we gathered on the craft matches yours”

_Curse advanced Amanto technology._

To be frank, he had been right, at some point. The blood was indeed Kagura’s but not the Kagura he was talking to.

When they had used the said spacecraft to journey back to Earth, her companion had been bleeding still, with her injuries not yet fully healed. Kagura supposed that they were very careless about that very detail. But they were in a hurry so that minor detail had slipped her mind.

 _Fuck shit._ Kagura just glared at him, couldn’t think of a retort to his statement.

She felt a hand grab onto her arm. The masked figure was looking intently at her. It was clear to them that they had to face the fucking cops sooner or later.

“Whoever you are, I’ll have to take you to the station” he declared.

“Sadist” Kagura spoke up, “Leave my friend out of this… she’s not an illegal immigrant, she’s a bonified citizen of Edo, yes”

“Then, I’ll need to see some identification”

 _Fucking shit._ Out of all the people who should interfere, it just had to be him. Kagura did not want to deal with the damned cop right now but she did not want to be put into more trouble either. Catching a glance at her companion with worried eyes, her obscured eyes showed calmness instead.

Pulling up her present counterpart’s parasol, the masked figure whispers, “I bet he just wants a fight, yes”

“Oi, as much as I want to settle scores, I need to do my job” the cop said, as if he read those obscured lips with ease, “Now come to the station with me, both of you”

The two exchanged gazes before splitting up, running on opposite directions.

It had hurt Kagura’s (did not matter which) pride to run away from Okita Sougo, her longtime rival and one of the banes of her existence, but it was vital for both their survival. The damned cop was going to ruin everything they have been trying to hide and when word spreads about this, it might put them both in jeopardy.

Sougo yanked out his trusty bazooka out of nowhere and fired at the closest target. Hastily, he dropped the weapon and ran towards his target, watching as an explosion occurred before his eyes. As he was yanking out a pair of handcuffs, he barely misses the attack headed for his direction. He retreated back a few paces and instinctively rested his hand onto the hilt of his katana. Sougo watched with calculating eyes as his attacker pulled back the parasol and placed it over her shoulder. It was the mysterious masked figure and she was looking at him with the same intensity.

A shift in the air and a quick tug from his instincts, Sougo pulled out his katana, blocking Kagura’s attack from the side. They then, engage on an all-out battle on the riverside. The masked figure merely watches them, with a haughty grin on her concealed face.

The fight lasted, long enough for the sun to set completely and for the night sky to settle in. By then, the street lamps around this rural part of town had lit up and people were starting to get livelier. Kagura had managed to punch Sougo on the jaw before he kneed her side. They recoiled once more, panting for breaths before going at it again.

“Kagura!” they heard two familiar voices yell.

The masked figure looked up to see Gintoki, Shinpachi and Sadaharu rushing from the bridge. A crowd had already gathered to watch the fight too, she noted. She simply waved her hand at them and returned her gaze on the amusing fight before her.

“What the hell, you two brats?” Gintoki shrieked, “Going at it again? Haven’t you grown up at all?!”

“I’m sorry you had to witness this” Shinpachi said, turning to the masked figure, “It’s usually like this with Kagura-chan and Okita-san, so I hope they haven’t bothered you at all”

The masked figure merely replied with two thumbs up, baffling Shinpachi.

However, when she returned her gaze on the fight, she noticed Kagura favoring her left leg more and that she was struggling to stand straight properly. The woman instantly recalled that she was injured gravely on her right leg when they had first met. She also noticed Sougo targeting her injured leg most of the time and before long, the wounds had reopened and Kagura was bleeding again.

Despite her injuries, Kagura could still fight but the masked figure intervened when Sougo lunged for an attack, blocking it with her own parasol.

“Oi…” Kagura snarled, “I can still fight this bastard”

“You’ve grown weaker, China” Sougo provoked, “So weak that your friend had to even rescue you”

“Dammit! Shut up, you damned chihuahua!” Kagura was about to attack when a hand held up to stop her.

“I wanna fight” the masked figure uttered.

Before Sougo could say anything, the masked figure had already charged at him, with an impressive speed. The man barely barred the attack with his katana, gritting his teeth as he tried to keep on par with her strength. Brusquely, the masked figure pulled her fist away and pivoted her body for a kick at his side, sending him flying towards the stream.

Unrelenting, the figure attacks with her parasol and Sougo managed to evade, a feral grin on his face, “Are you people with weird clothes and parasols really that crazy?” he snorted.

They clashed. The water jostled and splashed around them but the fire between them was alight brightly. Even Gintoki halted and watched the fight with vigor. Shinpachi was awestruck. The strength of that masked figure was simply unparalleled and dare say, could topple Okita Sougo, the best swordfighter of the Shinsengumi, if necessary. Kagura watched with trained eyes, remembering the savagery and grace she first witnessed when the masked figure took on an entire army of golden-skinned Amanto twice their size singlehandedly. The Yato blood definitely flows within her.

Eventually Sougo lost his weapon in the water somewhere and was forced to use his limbs to parry and attack. He wrestled with her inhumane strength, shoved her off and flung her into the water, without realizing that he had her helmet clutched in his hand.

He inspected it for a second before he felt his head smashed and his back colliding on the wet soil of the riverside.

Gintoki and Shinpachi skimmed at Sougo for a moment before turning to the not-so-masked figure. She shoved the dislodged goggles off her face and tipped her head up, displaying a proud smirk. Under the moonlight, basked in the colors of the streetlights, her fiery, shoulder-length, vermillion hair gleamed, gracing her well-defined face. A bright, red feather earring was hanging on one of her ears. Her pale skin glistening and sharp cerulean eyes were teeming with life. The woman scoffed, “You’re still a brat, Sadist, yes” her voice resonated through the air.

Needless to say, Gintoki and Shinpachi screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, please leave a review/comment or a kudos... 'cuz it helps. Criticisms are also welcomed. I'm not confident about my grammar or the way I wrote the characters.
> 
> Also if anyone is wondering, yes, the Bim Particles are a parody of the Pym Particles from Marvel. Also, yes, the title of the chapter is from Proverbs. Many sincere apologies.
> 
> Please stay tuned for next week's update.


	7. It's not worth the sacrifice if it isn't for the ones you love

> _It's not worth the sacrifice if it isn't for the ones you love._

* * *

“I’m so confused”

“We all are”

_Bark!_

“I thought you said your Mami was dead?”

“She is”

“Then, who is this? Wait, is this one of those fanfics where one of the characters secretly has a twin or sibling or something?”

“No—and you guys know very well who my damn brother is”

“Then, who’s she?”

“She’s me…”

“I’m her…”

“… yes”

“I'm so confused”

_Bark!_

“We all are”

“And you’re just going back to beginning again”

Eight in the evening, the air was dry, the crescent moon is present, the sky was not entirely in its darkest, the streetlights were luminous and the holler of variant voices could be heard faintly from the background. Kabuki District is alive, carousing and drenched in neon lights. Lavish clothing, expensive make-up and jewelry paraded around the bustling streets. Flushed faces and brimming egos arose, boosted by drunken confidence. Everywhere and everyone was roaring in laughter, excitement and tears.

The Yorozuya office was bright and dead silent.

Gintoki blinked, once then twice, “Please explain to me—no, us… how?” he jutted his finger towards the two identical figures.

“Like I said, I’m Kagura… eight years from now”

Present Kagura and future Kagura might look the same but at the same time, they were distinguishable from the other, Gintoki noticed. Present Kagura had longer hair, reaching her lower back with a single bun tied at one side of her head, concealed with her usual hair ornament. The younger woman was also wearing a red _duangua,_ loose pants and combat boots like the usual. Future Kagura had… bolder taste in clothes, according to Gintoki, as she was wearing a wine-red short sleeved dress that reached just above her knees and high-cut boots. She also has a feather earring on one ear and shorter, loose hair. They indeed look like identical twins who refused the idea of it.

Sadaharu barked once more.

“I don’t like this” Gintoki muttered, “It was bad enough that I had to watch you grow up. Seeing you as a full-grown adult is a nightmare! You’re killing me, Kagura! You don’t give a damn about what your Gin-chan feels, you damn brat!”

“Who the hell are you calling brat, you old geezer?!” Future Kagura hollered.

Shinpachi paused for a moment, glancing at the two women with reckoning eyes, feeling skeptic of the whole situation. He sighed and shook his head, finding it futile for him to ever understand, before he goes over to Sougo who was currently sitting on the floor, rubbing his aching nape. In his hands was a tray filled with bandages and betadine. Kneeling down, he opted to treat the policeman’s wounds but he only declined the offer, “I’m fine, Shimura” he managed to grunt out.

Even if his face remained impassive like the usual, Sougo had felt the weight of the older Kagura’s attacks. His lip was busted, lacerations down his hands and arms and maybe some bruises were forming somewhere down his torso but otherwise, he was still fine. It was against his pride to ever admit that China had landed a good hit and he was reeling in pain because of it. Taking his word for it, Shinpachi simply left the tray beside him and settled down beside his boss who was sitting uncomfortably on the couch, still studying the two women who sat on the other couch.

“If you’re really from the future, prove it”

“What more proof do you guys want? Isn’t my presence enough?”

“I don’t want to take your word for it” Gintoki said, “For all we know, you might just be a doppelganger or something”

“I’m not” she replied, “It’s really me, your Kagura-chan… just older”

“Tell me something from the future then”

“I don’t think that’s a really good idea” Shinpachi blanched, “For all we know, we might be breaking some laws of spacetime here”

“Like what? I don’t mind” Future Kagura asked.

“Will my perm have a shot at being straight? Is Golgo 13 still ongoing? Will I finally get laid? Is the new Gintama movie a success? Will there be another live-action Gintama movie? Will that damned gorilla mangaka show himself or is he still sending mails to Rie Kugimiya? Is the Yorozuya still broke and poor? Is Patsuan still a cherry boy? Will Tomokazu Sugita take singing seriously?”

“Oi, that’s a lot of questions already—and what do you mean, I’m still a cherry boy?”

“What? Aren’t you a little curious about the future as well, Shinpachi?”

“Yeah, I mean…” Shinpachi paused, “Well… now that I think about… will Otsu-chan finally perform in Oedo Dome? Is the fanclub still ongoing? Will we finally be an official fanclub and me as the president? Did Otsu-chan release any compilation albums yet? She did not go for the AV route, did she? Will I get a chance with Otsu-chan? Will she be famous worldwide or… universal-wide—”

“What kind of questions are those?” Gintoki berated, smacking Shinpachi on the back of the head, “You think she gave a damn about your abnormal obsession?”

“I was just curious” Shinpachi cried.

“Well then, I guess I’ll ask some questions about the future too” said Sougo, standing up from the floor.

“Okita-san..?”

The policeman smirked, “How did I kill Hijikata-san? Where did I bury his body? Will I become Vice-Chief of the Shinsengumi, then?”

“Oi, don’t ask as if he’s already dead!”

“Tell me, is One Piece still on-going?” Gintoki asked.

“Is that really important?” Shinpachi shrieked.

“Who takes over my current position as 1st Division Captain?”

“Guys, stop it already!” Shinpachi screeched.

“Will I finally win in pachinko? Tell me, what are the lottery numbers eight years from now? I’ll be sure to write them down!”

“Did Hijikata die in slow, agonizing pain or silent and swiftly?”

“What the hell with those twisted questions?”

“Oi, don’t act as if you weren’t just asking about Otsu-chan a second ago, Patsuan” Gintoki retorted, “As long as we have the future Kagura here, I’m gonna keep asking all about the future”

As per usual, it ended up with Gintoki and Shinpachi arguing. The two women watched with unimpressed eyes. They both knew, of course, that no matter how much time will pass, nothing will ever change. Amidst the fight, they both heard Sougo heave a sigh, “If I’m not getting any answers then, I’ll just leave” he muttered.

“Sadist, you’re still bleeding” pointed the younger Kagura.

“I don’t need to hear that from you” he scorned, “Well that’s that then”

The policeman grabbed his black coat from the floor and draped over his shoulders, “I’ll see you whenever” he said, making his way through the room, patting Sadaharu as he passed by, but he stopped as he was exiting the _shoji,_ “Future China, tell me, am I stronger in the future?” he asked.

She stared at him for a moment before a smirk tugged on her lips, “You’re still a damned sadist” she answered.

Sougo blinked then simply nodded. He left the apartment without a word.

When they heard the faint thud of the _shoji_ , signaling his leave, Future Kagura turned to her present counterpart, “I told you, he only needed a good fight” she beamed, “We didn’t get arrested, yes?”

“Don’t tell me you’re buddies with that damned sadist in the future”

Contemplating for a while, her future counterpart thought of a suitable answer but so far, her mind was blank. The present her just sighed rather theatrically, a scornful look lingering on her face. If truth be told, the thought of being buddies with that damned policeman was still unbearable for her. Future Kagura wanted to laugh at her expression, but suppressed it instead. _Not really,_ the future her thought, _we’re beyond getting along, anyway_.

* * *

Unbeknownst to her consciousness, her legs pulled her into familiar and routinely destinations while her mind drifted along nostalgia. Most often, those memories gave her a warmth she has not felt in a long time, a warmth that she so desperately yearned for. Kagura still smiled somewhat, to erase or at least, ease the loneliness that was throbbing internally and carried on her walk around the Kabuki District.

It was a particularly busy morning for the Yorozuya. As much as she wanted to tag along, missing the feeling of completing a request with Gin-chan and Shinpachi, she declined the offer to accompany them, trusting that her present self could keep the two in line. Kagura was not the type of person to take breaks in between from her two jobs, but this time, she gives herself some credit. A year-long mission should at least deserve some break. Plus, she could not sleep the night before—the moment she closed her eyes, images of the supernova destroying the entire system and pure destruction flashed through her head and in the middle of the night, Gintoki and the present her had to wake her up for she was wringing and screaming. After that, she feared closing her eyes once more. That morning, she looked disheveled, distraught and desolate and the loneliness that followed after the Yorozuya left the office amplified everything. Having enough of the eerie silence, she scrambled out of the apartment and took a long morning walk.

The walk took her on another part of town, on the outskirts of Kabuki District. She looked up, staring at the three-story apartment building from the park bench she was sitting in. Her bright, purple parasol shielded her from the sun’s glowering rays. Midday sun was not kind, especially in the summer.

The image before her was already committed to memory. Fluttering her eyes close, she reminisces the feeling of the morning sun streaming its healthful glow through the glass windows—she had forgotten to close them the night before, exhaustion making her mind hazy. She remembers the quiet hum of the radio as she prepared something to eat, she could still remember the songs they were playing and sometimes, she would pitch in. During the nights, when everything was in comforting silence, sometimes she would drink, sometimes she would envelop herself in a tender warmth. The cream walls, the oak colored ceilings, the marble counters of the kitchen, the warm futon, the simple beige couch, her radio—she felt at home.

It did not seem necessary that she would wear the helmet anymore. Taking it off, she breathed deeply, soaking in the fresh air of summer. Sighing loudly, she desperately misses her home. Though she was already home, this was not hers—this belonged to her present self. She was unmistakably out of place. That apartment was not hers yet but it will be— _in four years’ time,_ she cooed.

How silly she must have looked, looking like a lost lamb, desperate for home.

Having enough of those feelings eating away her sanity, she stood up, stretching her arms and her legs. She yawned, the drowsiness from the night before catching up to her. Kagura decided to return to the Yorozuya office and get some much-needed afternoon siesta.

“For a wanted criminal, you’re very brave for walking around these streets exposed”

“Are you sure you’re talking to the right China?” she tauntingly grinned, turning around.

“Doesn’t matter which” he replied.

Supposed that she should see this coming.

“What excuse did you give to Hijikata when you came to the compound looking like shit?”

Sougo was silent but the glare he sent her way was piercing. His face had a few bandages and she thought that more should be wrapped around his body, hiding under the layers of his uniform. Although he did not want to admit it, the woman knew she landed some good hits, judging from how pained and harsh his breaths were as he tottered out of the Yorozuya apartment last night. She only smirked at him, showing off how proud she was at her victory against him at their recent duel.

“I ought to arrest you for breaking a policeman’s pride” Sougo hissed, placing a hand on the hilt of his katana.

“Take your best shot then”

Ferocious black against blazing red, Sougo and Kagura clashed like raging infernos. He fights her with all his strength, mercilessly swinging his blade with nothing holding him back. His crimson orbs sparked, his adrenaline pumping, his blood boiling. With everything he has, he swears that he will wipe that smirk off her face and leave her in pain—he was a sadist after all. Meanwhile, she had a different spark in her cerulean eyes. She fights him with poise, as if she was bidding him into a deadly dance. But there was still the savagery of a Yato as she dives in for an attack, selfishly making him draw out the red inside his body. She was not part of the Sadistic Sisters Three for nothing.

As Sougo swings his blade downwards, Kagura evaded with ease, gaining footing on the blade before somersaulting, kicking him in the chin in the process. Landing her two feet on the ground, she lunged at him and batted her parasol but he blocked it with his blade, mere inches from his face. He gritted his teeth and shoved her off and proceeds to kick her torso. Kagura recoiled back and blocked his attack by grabbing his wrists and flung him across the park. His back collided with the park bench, effectively destroying it in half. Kagura eyed the damage, waiting for Sougo to emerge out of the pile of debris and dust and attack again.

Instincts tugging at her, Kagura turned and greeted a kick aimed at her with her own. She noticed that his katana was out of his hands and that his wounds were reopening, if the pooling blood in his dress shirt was any indication. Sougo’s face was also bleeding, cuts sprawled all over his skin. Everything was at a standstill for a moment but it won’t ever sit well with two of them. Kagura tipped her parasol up at him and fired a single bullet which he evaded by simply craning his head to the side but the distraction was enough for her to pull back and pivot her body for a kick to his side, but Sougo caught her foot and grinned at her ferally before throwing her across, destroying another park bench in the process.

Sougo walked towards her, his steps measured. He watched her as she scuffled out of the debris and stood up once more, undeterred and unscathed. This time, Sougo was pissed. Seeing her in this light, the older version of China was a different force and yet still the same annoying prick he has known since he was eighteen. He could not cut her without being cut ten times first. He could not inflict a nasty bruise without being bruised five times first. He could not make her bleed without bleeding first. Yet, he was still standing. Present or future, he will beat China, whatever it takes.

Before he could lunge an attack, a piece of paper glides down through the air, distracting him. Normally, these meagre things do not distract him in a fight but there was something odd about that paper. He watched it as it slowly landed on the ground, but before he could study the image, a hand collided with his face and he was on the ground in seconds.

When Sougo opened his eyes, he saw older China grabbing the photo in a frenzy, muttering inaudibly but no doubt curses directed at him. He smirked—he’s found something to torture her with.

Immediately propping his body up, he swiftly kicked China off her feet, the picture flying out of her hands. He caught it and recoiled far enough from her with a feral smirk.

“For the love of… So—sadist, if you value your goddamned life, don’t look at the pi—oh, you looked at it” Kagura awkwardly stroked her cheek once Sougo’s eyes finally studied the picture.

Aghast was an understatement, repulsed was not enough, baffled was sugarcoating it. His face paled, his brows furrowed and his eyes went dead. No matter how much he tried to look impassive, it was taking all his left strength not to fall apart and lose his sanity then and there. Slowly, his gaze shifted back towards China who snatched the photo away from him. She was blushing madly and avoiding eye contact.

“You didn’t see anything” she murmured, tucking the photo away inside the pocket of her dress.

“I cannot unsee that ever again, China”

“If you weren’t such a sadistic bastard, then maybe you could’ve spared yourself” she retorted, finally meeting his eyes.

For the first time, silence finally subdued the two of them.

Kagura sighed and composed herself, patting her red dress and brushing her vermillion locks with her hand. Sougo simply watched her, taking note how this was an entirely different China— _calmer, poised, slightly womanly_. The said woman sauntered to grab her parasol from the ground and his katana and timidly returned his weapon to him— _add civil to that._

“That picture—”

“Forget it” she snapped.

“As if I could just forget a picture of me and a toddler that resembled me” he retorted.

This was one of those truths about the future that she wanted to spare her current self from, or anyone else for that matter. It was not that she was not proud of it—she is, very much, but knowing herself and the people around her in this age, they would go insane. They would not hesitate to tie her to a spaceship and let her drift in space. Besides, she wanted her present self to be surprised when the time does come.

The picture was taken one morning when both of them had nothing to do. She grabbed the polaroid camera and instantly took a capture of the scene in front of her, earning an annoyed expression from him in return. _I won’t show it to anyone if you’re that bothered._

“What’s his name?” asked Sougo, in a calm tone he was not used to. Circumstances such as this, Sougo knew better to act as calmly as possible.

“Souichirou” Kagura replied.

“Is he—?"

“Our son? Yes.”

The picture was taken in the living room, the blaring sunlight through their window was their only source of light. Little Souichirou crawled up to his father who was quietly flipping through the pages of a report he had just finished. That morning, thankfully, was both their day off, after a week-long investigation and a two weeks’ mission in space. Thirty-two year-old Okita Sougo was clad in a comfortable beige _yukata_ and grey _hakama,_ his slightly longer flaxen locks was swept to the side and features looking relaxed for the first time that week. He carried the boy into his lap and watched as the young boy fumbled his callous hands and he, in return, ruffled the boy’s tresses. Kagura, who just emerged from the kitchen, watched the scene unfold with a fond smile gracing her features. She immediately seized the polaroid camera from their coffee table and took a candid picture. She remembered Sougo glaring at her afterwards as the picture was being automatically printed but she only smiled triumphantly in return.

It was funny how she remembered it like it just happened yesterday, when it had already been a year and a half since then.

Fluttering her eyes open, she remembered where she was. The younger and current Sougo was sitting quietly a few inches beside her, sharing the shade of her large parasol. An unspoken truce between them rendered them docile. Apparently, Sougo was still having a hard time grasping the fact that he will have a child—with _China,_ even.

“How old is he?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“Three” she answered.

_So, five years from now, huh?_ Sougo thought, “Does present China know—?"

“Hell no” she replied, “She’ll flip and go in a blank rage… besides, at this age, I was still in denial”

“I’ve always known you liked me, China”

Unlike the present her, this China was not doing or saying anything to deny it. Well, if she had already gone past that point and had a child with him in her timeline, there was no need to deny it. The child alone was proof enough.

“Anyway, I won’t say anything if you don’t, yes” she said, “But I’d rather you not”

“I wonder how you coerced me into having a child with you. You must’ve been desperate, poured a drug in my drink or concocted a love spell—”

A punch. If there was anything that did not change, it was that she still fell for his provocations. He dodged it easily.

Kagura sighed, her body calming down. She dug her hand under her collar and pulled out a chain necklace with a silver band tied in it. It glittered in the bright midday sun, exposing it for anyone to see. Sougo wanted to laugh but he kept it lodged in his throat—the sight of the ring made his insides flip.

“Shotgun marriage, I see” he jested.

Another punch. Like before, he dodged it easily.

The woman glared at him but her features softened gradually. Of course, he would play it off as a joke right now but wait four years when he would appeal to her, as perverse as a sadist could, the idea of marriage. She could only scoff at the memory.

“I was caught up in another war in a different galaxy. For a year, I’ve been continuously fighting, thinking that after this, I’ll go home to my family at last, but when I went into the black hole, thinking that my life would shrink away from existence, I regretted not saying a proper goodbye” she mumbled after a while of silence, “Seeing you again, like this, just makes me homesick even more”

Sougo did not understand a thing she was saying but kept quiet.

She then chuckled softly, safely tucking the necklace back under her clothes, “Well, anyway, old man Gengai offered to help me get home so… that’s that”

Kagura stood up and started walking away from the park bench, “See you around, Sougo” she said.

It felt weird. Not only did he heard China utter his name but he learned the devastating truth of the future, that eventually, he will hook up with her and have a child. As her figure slowly disappeared from his line of sight, he began to ponder about the events of today and the upcoming future.

The thought of settling down with China have not really crossed his mind. Even the thought of coming to terms with his supposed feelings for the woman slightly repulsed him—he would deny it over and over and convince himself that it’s purely out of settling scores with her, not that he was interested in any way. Then again, the years they spent grudgingly battling with her and _with_ her, he realized that they could maybe end their supposed childish banter, act their age seriously for once, and try. The idea of a future with her was not so bad at all.

In fact, it might be the very thing he would yearn for—in the future.

He gazed up, eyeing the apartment room he had owned for the past four months. _Yeah, maybe it’s not so bad after all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm such a Okikagu trash... yikes. Forgive me...
> 
> Double update for this week because I've just about wrapped up the entire story. Yay me (/^v^)/


	8. Chapter 8

> _The best laid-out plans always end up backfiring before your eyes._

* * *

Looking back, he watched under his trained eye if anyone would follow. It dawned on him that nights were rare occurrences, the skies were as blistering and so red, their three suns shone heavily and adjacently. He hates this planet, was the conclusion. Everything was glittered in bronze and gold, making his eyes squint. The only thing he could do was walk faster and avoid as much locals as possible. Underneath the rare dark alleyways, the only solace he could have from the gleaming crowd, he crouched down and pulled the lid of the manhole up and carefully jumped inside. Replacing the lid silently as much as he could, his nose scrunched in disgust and felt the slick grease of the metals. Flickering a glow stick open, he trotted cautiously down the sewers. It was particularly not to his liking to be down there, but better there than the surface. He fished his parasol out of his rugged cloak, immediately comforted with the feeling of a weapon by his hand.

Navigating through the sewage was not easy but he had a good inclination of where he was headed. He had a map on his other hand that covered the whole city and with careful study, he lines up the sewage canals with the map of the surface.

Actually, he had done this stunt before but not without briefings or directives. Acting out of his own volition seemed to be a careless plot to be done by a freelancer as nothing would back him up if ever certain circumstances arise.

Situating himself underneath another lid, he lifted it slowly, enough for his eyes to make out the scenery in front of him. The coast was clear, and he propped himself up from under the surface.

Infiltration like this was not his very forte. Most often, when he is on missions, the instructions were to just simply exterminate the enemy, no fuss, no muss. This particular enemy though was not in his jurisdiction, was not in any means his current mission but something tugged him here. His mind could not rest without seeking the answers for himself.

He took off his cloak, finding the stench unbearable and started to run.

Occupational hazards were his thing, he reminds himself as he toppled against his enemies. Technically, he was the one intruding but the enemy was still the enemy—or at least, that was his conviction. The future itself was as stake, he said, convincing himself of what he was doing.

He entered the large, antediluvian temple, crashing onto the stone walls, probably crashing into a thousand-year old artifact, but he could not care. Golden-skinned Amanto in robes ran from him and golden-skinned Amanto in uniforms charged at him. Defeating them all with a few whacks from his weapon, he continued to run. At the end of his sprint, he was met with a crowd of golden-skinned Amanto holding up their weapons against him. Without forewarning, they fired their energy-based weapons, but he simply folds his parasol open, blocking the bullets with ease. He dived in, crushing their numbers with so much as a swing. They still managed to put up a fight and the intruder had to exert more effort to incapacitate them. More reinforcements came but he was ready to retaliate.

As his enemies fell, he started to run again. He aimed his parasol at the security cameras, shooting them dead with precision. Refusing to admit he is actually lost in this puzzling maze of corridors, he continued to fight with blind rage. It was not his forte to attack mindlessly without knowing what he was facing up against, without knowing if there was anything at fault and yet, he raged on.

When he veered left into another corridor, the Krimons were waiting for him. Opening his parasol once more, he shields himself from their attack. He leapt in the air and infiltrated their formation, kicking and punching his way through to get to the other side. Triumphed and unscathed, he walked out measuredly and was met with more guns pointed at him. He stopped abruptly, scanning the numbers surrounding him. He only smirked at the sight, “I got your attention, I see” he said.

“You are, maybe, the most inexplicable and foolish person I’ve ever seen” said a booming voice, “What are you after in our temple?”

_Finally, someone who speaks._ Umibouzu sighed in relief internally, “I was hoping to speak with the Council” he replied.

“You’re full of confidence if you wish to speak with the Council” asked the voice, “We tolerate no foreigners here, especially Union lapdogs”

“I came out of my own volition… I’m but a mere freelancer, not allied or hired by the Union”

A distinguished figure emerged from the uniform soldiers, his emerald eyes sharp and stance demanding authority. The large figure pointed a blaster at him, “You say so and yet, you attack our fellowmen?” he asked condescendingly, “You are either an idiot or very brave to take on an entire race on your own”

“I just have some questions” he said, “And this was the only way I could gather the attention of someone of high rank”

“So, you infiltrate our planet, attack and killed our men just for attention? You have what I believe to be a death wish” said the man, “If you want, the Krimons will be happy to oblige with killing you, Umibouzu”

“I never killed your men” Umibouzu answered, “They’re unconscious and gravely injured, maybe, but not dead… now, don’t get your hairs in a bunch”

Putting down his blaster and sheathing it back to his holster, his eyes turned gauging, contemplating what to do with the odd man. Taking a deep breath, he turned to his men. He spoke words foreign to Umibouzu’s ears but he had an idea of what he was ordering his men and so before they could do anything to him, he dropped his parasol and hastily raised his hands, “Arrest me then” he said, “I surrender”

The large man stopped abruptly and turned around to meet his gaze. Scrutinizing the revered alien hunter, he quickly noted that despite surrendering, there was a different yet puzzling glare in his eyes. He was not afraid, not desperate, rather, Umibouzu was a tad plucky and the rest was unreadable.

He spoke once more in his native tongue. Umibouzu had barely any time to register his words before he was shot and everything went dark.

* * *

Waking up, he never expected that he would still see the light, moreover, he was still even alive. His eyes fluttered open, blinded by the bright lights. It took some time for his eyes to adjust to it, shifting and squinting, grunting at the pain in his bones. A moment’s disorientation clouded his mind. When he finally flickered though the room, he noticed that their cells were somewhat… different.

Pure, agonizing white painted the walls, his cot was also white and most uncomfortable. Sitting up, he noted, rather than bars, a glass screen was barring him from the outside. He stood up and approached the glass, attempting to touch it, but he was only electrocuted. Retracting his hand back, he turned around, still in wonder how he ended up in such place. It was unfamiliar from any architectural design he had seen from the Krimons… or maybe, he had just not explored all. There was a faint hiss, but he elected to ignore it, snubbing the figures entering the vault, he studied the fascinating cell he was given instead.

Despite his actions that might say otherwise, Umibouzu had regretted early on of his decision to infiltrate the Planet Kromos and get the attention of any high ranking official of the Council. All because something did not sit well with him. It was certainly a risky move, and thank the gods he did not bring his daughter into this. He watched the empty cell he was given with blank and tired eyes, unable to comprehend whether he should try to escape or continue on his careless ruse.

“I hope you are most comfortable” said the familiar voice.

Umibouzu turned around and found the same man earlier now standing before his cell, “This most certainly is a high-class cell” he replied, “A little bit cold, though”

“It’s because you’re in a high-class ship” he replied.

“Ahh…” the alien hunter merely responded, “So why put some grubby trespasser here instead?”

“You are not some grubby trespasser, Umibouzu” he said, “Actually, I’ve heard many of your exploits and I commend you for them”

“Even in hostile planets, I’m still quite famous, eh?”

“Your reputation does exceed you, yes” said the man, “But I must say, infiltrating our Council is a foolish deed and dishonorably at most, one that is punishable by execution”

Bobbing his eyebrows up, Umibouzu breathed heavily, “I suppose so” he said, “Don’t let this old fool get the best of you though… I’ve taken down a lot more beings stronger than your species”

“And yet you willingly surrendered when you had the chance to escape and get past me” the man drawled, “Now I know you are sincere when you said you wanted the attention of any high ranks of the Krimon Council” he said, chuckling. His cheeks formed little crinkles, unable to bear his amusement any longer, “And well now, you’ve gained it”

“You?” Umibouzu raised his brows, skeptic.

“Admiral Konjuku—I may not look like it, but I’ve commandeered victory for my planet from dozens of other larger-scale trespassers, therefore earning my place among the Council” he said, “Now tell me, what are you really doing here?”

“Like I said, I have some questions that only you could answer” Umibouzu said.

The admiral before him was leaner and taller than most of the golden-skinned Amanto he had come across so far. He was also polished in silver and different shades of blue and grey, with a long cloak draping behind his shoulders. His chest was also adorned with different brooches and ribbons, signifying his high status. Judging by his voice, the man was anywhere near his age and wiser beyond his years. His tall frame gazed down at the alien hunter, his trained, emerald eyes vigilant and expectant.

“What questions might those be?” he asked.

“I’ll start with something simple” Umibouzu said, taking a sit at his cot. He propped his elbows up against his knees and stared up the admiral, “Those larger-scale trespassers you mentioned… care to tell me a tale or two? Those don’t happen to be Union ships now, are they?”

Admiral Konjuku bobbed his eyebrows, “Yes… those Union dogs are pests and gods forbid that they enter our orbit ever again”

“And out of the one hundred sixty life supporting planets in the Galaxy Eye, you are the only ones who refused an alliance, now why is that?” Umibouzu asked, “The Union’s creed is to explore, share culture, technology and forge strong alliances in between planets for generations to come… then, the Krimon refuses all of that… why?”

“We don’t trust other species” he answered rather, warily, “We don’t want them infiltrating with our culture, our way of living… we’ve lived like this since the beginning of time, we do not like it when other species interfere with our people”

“But why?” Umibouzu asked, squinting his eyes disparagingly, “Are you people afraid of change or something? It’s not all that bad if you think about it. I personally know of a planet who was invaded of change, though they resisted at first, they slowly opened their doors and now they’re living off with great prosperity—do you, perhaps, think you’re above other species?”

“If that is what you wish to think, then yes” replied the admiral.

“But then, you were constantly targeted by the Union, since you were the only ones who resisted their proposition of alliance with them… I mean, your planet is not much of a loss compared to the other hundreds” Umibouzu said, “But you still responded in kind, killing off their ambassadors and started a war in the process which ended in a treaty that ceases all violence unless one attacks the other—then your Council decreed that the Krimons are forbidden to leave their planet, therefore isolating yourself from the rest of the universe, am I right so far, Admiral?”

“Yes, now where is this leading to?” asked the admiral, clearly irked from the unneeded history lesson.

“Now, I would not like prying my nose in your business since your politics is beyond my jurisdiction but something caught my attention…”

“Now what would that be, alien hunter?”

“Something does not add up” Umibouzu said, straightening his body, “If the treaty was to keep the two parties alone to do their respective business then there won’t be any need for Union ships hovering above your planet’s south pole, am I right?”

The admiral was stunned but he immediately hid expression, though it did not escape the alien hunter’s eyes. Rather, the admiral’s expression turned impressed instead. He has always heard of the great Umibouzu, how shrewd and cunning the revered alien hunter, apart from his great strength, is across the universe. Besides, this was supposedly classified information between the Council members, some other high-ranking officials of Krimon and the Union Board. Sealing his lips in a thin line, he turned to the guards standing inside the brig, guarding both of them. He spoke their native tongue, commanding them to leave them alone. They complied and Umibouzu watched wordlessly. Turning his eyes back to the alien hunter, there was a lot of questions forming in his head, “How did you find out?” he asked.

“I just had a hunch, but thanks to your expression, I had my answer” Umibouzu said, smirking.

“Tell me, alien hunter” the admiral said, “Please, don’t be shy… no one is here and no one could ever attempt to understand our conversation”

Umibouzu sighed and raised his hands in defeat, “Okay then” he huffed. Lowering his hands to rest at his knees, he continued, “Before coming here, I visited the Union starbase covertly, investigating on my own, then I came across a shipment, unmarked and delivering an unhealthy amount of Altana… that would explain the stabilization of the starbase _._ Especially that there was no organization that monitored Altana usage anymore, anyone could’ve used it freely by now… but the fact that it was an underground shipment, I grew curious—why would the Union, of all people, needed an underground shipment of Altana? That was when I decided to tail the ship which led me here… at first, I thought they were just smugglers until I found that excavation site on your south pole and everything made sense… how you isolated your own people and forbid them to leave the planet—you were sparing them from something else”

“Your reputation does indeed exceed you, Umibouzu” said the admiral.

“I’m the best in the business” Umibouzu bragged coolly, “So tell me… why is the Krimons letting the Union excavate their Altana if they never agreed to an alliance in the first place?”

Sighing, the admiral inched closer to the glass screen and spoke lowly enough for both of them to hear, “While it was true that the treaty was signed to stop all of the violence, it was not just that at all… they threatened us to sign the treaty or face annihilation, in turn, they are to freely excavate the Altana reserves of our planet”

“The Union couldn’t have just excavated their own planets’ Altana instead?”

“They are… and they all go to extensive research” he said, “How do you think they have amassed that great tech and especially, that starbase? Our reserves were for a different purpose”

“What?”

“You said the Union was an alliance to share culture and technology, bridge gaps between planets” he started, “However, they were not a solely militarized organization and now they planned to do just that. Altana from their own planets were not enough for their whole ploy, manpower was not enough either so that was why they pestered us into joining their ranks. We realized that after the fall of the Tendonshu, the Union was seeking the opportunity next”

“Why would they—?" Umibouzu stopped abruptly, “A hundred planets as their back up, no one would dare go against an entire army of Union warships”

“Precisely” replied the admiral, “That creed was just a ploy, to coerce planets into joining their grand scheme, to provide the Union the support and the materials and theoretically, they might be unaware of such scheme too”

“Pardon me for asking this, but why do you know?”

Admiral Konjuku paused for a moment, before letting out a shaky breath, “I was once part of the Union, the same way I learned of many languages, learned different technologies, the same way I knew of their grand plot” he mumbled loud enough for him to hear, “Under the façade of great alliances, the Union was amassing a fleet of warships, and I was one of the engineers. When they had threatened my own kind, I turned my back on them and with the knowledge I gained from the Union, I used it to liberate my people”

Umibouzu nodded in understanding, “And with the Altana they harvested from your planet—"

“They surely have amassed a great fleet hidden elsewhere by now”

“I’m impressed how you managed to keep it under wraps from your own people” Umibouzu blurted.

“It was difficult, shifting to dictatorship when we were once a republican planet” Konjuku said, “We had to control our own people and everything they should know”

Umibouzu nodded, “Well now, that’s that then” he huffed.

“Then, could I ask you a question this time, alien hunter?” he asked.

The great Umibouzu merely nodded, urging him to continue.

“You said you came here out of your own volition, now why is that?” asked the admiral.

“I’m a freelancer, specializing in liberating abused people, helping the oppressed and the dying, and coincidentally, I’m just looking for my next client—I have children to look after, you know” Umibouzu replied, “Now, I’ve noticed that the Union has been exploiting your resources in exchange for peacefully leaving your planet alone. Now, that seems right up my alley… a good opportunity for me, don’t you think?”

“You would carelessly take on an entire army? The entire Union for one measly planet?”

“I never said I’d take on an entire army” he said, “I only said I’d liberate your planet”

Admiral Konjuku glanced at his subordinates currently standing guard outside the brig. They remained impassive, unaware of their conversation. He stepped away from the jail cell and headed for the exit but before stopping by the doors, “I’m doing everything in my power to stop the Union, even if I had to renounce my position in the Council to do it” he said, “I will spare your life, but I beg of you, do not tell anyone what we discussed”

With that, the admiral left.

Umibouzu released a loud grunt, rubbing his bald head furiously, “I’m too old for this shit” he muttered, “At this rate, I’ll lose a lot more hair than necessary”

Suddenly the white lights became maddening, alarming red flickers. Umibouzu gazed up and felt the floor tremble slightly, then the next one had him tumbling across the floor and hitting the glass screen, igniting his entire body with prickling electricity. He sighed again. _Too old._

* * *

Friendly faces were often welcoming. Fresh faces were attractive. Familiar faces were evocative.

Strolling around Kabuki District, he was not particularly fond of the unfamiliarity of the place, despite living off the slums of the place for a good decade, thinking that he was condemned to run for a lifetime. Everything in his life up until now had been either a hit or miss and he was lucky enough that most of the hits and misses were played in his favor. Against his better judgment and by the draw of the cards of fate, he had lived extraordinarily and had his fair share of ups and downs, his fair share of battles and yet, he was still standing. People like him did not need to hide anymore, did not need to run anymore, were welcomed back to the ranks of society, were deemed as heroes, but under any circumstances, he still opted to wear a _sugegasa,_ obscuring his face from the public as he walked. Against the scorching weather, he wore a navy blue _haori,_ with an olive _yukata_ underneath and was seemingly unperturbed to the heat. He walked with ease, with great composure, keeping his lips in a thin line and olive eyes sharp and stuck to the ground. No one knew of him and he knew of no one.

He stopped by before a river, sitting under the wooden bridge and watching the crystal water flow amiably with the current. His raven hair skidded off his shoulder and hooded any remnant of his face. Pulling out a _yakisoba_ bread from the pockets of his clothing, he began to eat in silence.

Nothing could ever disturb him.

“You… can I have a bite?”

And yet…

The man sighed and duped his head lower. He did not answer.

“C’mon old geezer, you’re really eating here? Alone?” the voice taunted, “At least let me have a bite and you won’t be so lonely anymore”

“I have nothing left, missy” he said, but held out the bread anyway, “Take it, if you’re that hungry”

He felt footsteps approaching. In his peripheral vision, black knee-high boots clicked with the soil, a white dress reached just above the knees, the tip of a purple parasol by her side, planted by the ground. He stifled a chuckle, “I could never slip by you…” he said, “… Leader”

“Zura” she acknowledged.

“It’s not Zura, it’s Katsura”

Lifting his head, he greeted the woman with a smile. Shorter hair, a different choice for clothing, a feather earring, a large parasol and a different yet stronger presence, _my… have the years gone by,_ “You’ve grown a lot” he said.

“You could say that, yes” she said, handing him back the _yakisoba_ bread, “I’ve leeched some money out of Gin-chan’s pocket, now let’s get ramen at Matsu-nee’s”

“I thought you were already a bounty hunter” he said, “At least, that should have provided you the needed financial stability”

“Lost it all when I had to bail Gin-chan and Shinapachi out of jail” she replied, “But he had some money left in his secret stash so I took some, yes”

“Okay then, if you insist” he said.

The trek to the ramen shop seemed short and fleeting as stories were exchanged. Katsura found it endearing to be beside the young lady whom he regarded as one of the important people in his life, one of the few people he would acknowledge as a leader other than him. After a tiring journey around the country, he visited Kabuki District as to relish in the feeling of home. He did not decide to revisit his old friends but just stop there for the familiarity of the place, the ambiance of the chaotic and eccentric people around him. Of course, Katsura Kotaro was somehow fated, in one way or another, to see her.

Like a gentleman, he let the young woman enter the shop first, hearing her gleefully call out the owner’s name. When a voice answered with the same gleefulness, Katsura felt like being alive. His nerves jolted, goosebumps formed and his heart throbbed. Kagura pulled him enthusiastically inside and called out to the owner once more, announcing his presence.

Everything blurred around him as his eyes met with the blonde woman, clad in white and holding a tray with freshly cooked ramen. She smiled at him, calling his name with that sweet voice he had always loved, always longed for. He could only nod awkwardly in reply. The woman finished serving the ramen to his customers first and walked towards them with her trademark welcoming smile, “It’s been a while” she said.

“T-two years, I believe” he stammered.

Beside him, he could feel Kagura stifle a laugh.

“You too, Kagura-chan” she said, turning to the younger woman, “Well, to celebrate both your return, the first serving is on the house”

Kagura beamed and thanked the woman. She pulled him to the counter and they both sat there, watching as the woman worked. Katsura watched her tenderly, taking note how her hair falls freely, covering her face, how her hands swiftly chopped the ingredients, how every inch of her body moved coordinatingly as she makes her way around the kitchen. He took note how her eyes squint as she reached for a bowl from the cupboard, how her slim fingers coiled around the rims of the bowls, how her lips curved into a smile as she poured the broth into it, then the noodles. Katsura watched her as she served the bowls of ramen to both of them. Kagura’s voice fell trivial, in his ears, he could distinctively hear the woman giggling and saying, “You’re welcome”

“I-Ikumatsu-dono” Katsura blurted.

Ikumatsu looked at him, her cerulean orbs gleaming, even amidst the haze by the smoke evaporating from the ramen, “Thank you” he said.

Ikumatsu smiled, “Anytime” she replied.

Reverting his gaze, he grabbed a pair of chopsticks and started digging in. Ikumatsu’s voice boomed between the three of them, “So how’s everything… I haven’t seen you both in a while, you must have some excuse as to not dropping by my shop”

“I have no excuse” Katsura replied, finally able to reorient himself, “Also, why’d you serve me ramen? You know I prefer soba”

“Be glad it’s on the house” she scolded.

“Being an alien hunter is indeed harder with every mission” Kagura replied, “I miss moments like these, honestly… but I needed a living—I can’t leech off the Yorozuya forever, there’s no money in it, yes”

The woman chuckled, “Stay a while a little longer, I still want to talk” she said before going over her new customers.

Lunch time was the busiest hour for any food establishment. Katsura and Kagura did not mind waiting a while. In fact, Katsura did not mind waiting any time.

As Ikumatsu was out of sight, Kagura shifted her sights to Katsura and landed her hand on his shoulder, “You poor soul, yes” she teased, “You haven’t really ****** yet?”

“Oi!” Katsura cried, red painting his face, “What are you saying, Leader? O-of course not! I will never ****** or ****** or even *****!”

Kagura only laughed harder, trying hard to suppress it by pressing her palms into her mouth. To be honest, Katsura was not all that offended or embarrassed by it for he knew, he will never allow himself to get past that stage. It has been decided long ago, that he will not make his feelings known, that he will not pursue Ikumatsu in any way and retain the casual friendship they had for the past years. He patted Kagura in the head instead, “Leader, you’re as cheeky as always” he replied.

Kagura huffed, “Fine, whatever floats your boat” she replied, turning back to her ramen. She had known Zura for half of her life and seen his feelings for the woman blossom with every encounter. Kagura only wanted the best for the man she saw as a brotherly figure, even though sometimes she wished to beat him up for his idiocrasy, but he was a capable, strong and smart man whose moral code for Ikumatsu was masochistic at best. This was why she had invited him out to eat here after seeing him by the bridge that noon. Kagura figured that Katsura would not allow himself to visit her out of his own volition. Slurping the noodles quietly, she peered at Katsura who was eating away quietly too, “Do you regret coming here?” she asked.

He gulped, “No” he said, “Thank you, Leader, for forcing me to come here… I couldn’t have done it for myself”

“I’m glad, yes” she said, continuing to eat.

_I will never regret every moment I see her,_ Katsura thought, pausing to stare at his noodles.

Suddenly, he felt his _sugegasa_ being yanked off his head, revealing raven locks tied up in a ponytail. He looked up and found Ikumatsu holding the hat in her hands, “Don’t eat with this on your head… the sun’s not even touching your head” she scolded, placing the hat by his side.

Katsura smiled slightly, _never._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katsura hopelessly pining for Ikumatsu are one of my favorite things...
> 
> So we're halfway through the story... yay me (/^v^)/ Thank you for getting this far... I hope you be entertained for the following ones.  
> Update schedule changed (like I ever followed the schedule for once anyway) to every Tuesdays and Fridays.
> 
> As always, leave a kudos and/or review... 'cuz it helps. See you next week~


	9. Sometimes the truth is never enough to set you free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hesitating to publish this, especially in the middle of this crisis. I know everyone thinks that this is probably not the best time to go on publishing fanfics and some other shit but I thought that maybe, people needed to breathe and escape reality for a little while.
> 
> This is the least I could do for those who had enough of reality and wants some any means of escape.

> _Sometimes the truth is never enough to set you free._

* * *

Laughter with brimming tears was the best kind. She always loved that expression on anybody even if it brought out the ugliest and half-assed faces. She was not impervious to those instances herself, Kagura knows that despite her self-acclaimed Lolita face, when she laughs like this, she looks like one of those half-assed memes. Currently, Kagura looked just like that.

“Don’t worry, we’ve been there”

Gintoki placed his hand on Katsura’s shoulder who was currently stunned at the sight in front of him. He rubbed his eyes for the nth time for the past thirty minutes, his mind barely registering the fact that there are, indeed, two versions of Kagura sitting in front of him—one was laughing her ass off and one was scratching her nape with a sheepish look. His eclectic eyes shifted between the two, taking note of their differences and their similarities, yet still, he kept asking the question, “There are actually two Leaders?”

Shinpachi, whose previously shoulder-length hair was now tied back in a hasty little bun, sighed, “Yeah, Katsura-san, for the tenth time. That Kagura-chan is from the future and that Kagura-chan is the present” he said, pointing his finger accordingly.

“But how did that happen?” Katsura asked.

Gintoki scratched his head, “A black hole, right? She got sucked in some space entity and found herself transported into the past” he replied, “Right, future Kagura?”

Future Kagura, who ceased her laughing fit, nodded hastily, “I was in the middle of a mission when I got transported here” she replied, “But old man Gengai is building a machine to help me get back to my timeline”

“So I spent an entire afternoon with the future Leader?” he asked dumbly.

The woman nodded again. For the first time in thirty minutes, Katsura’s eyes darted elsewhere and his hunched body straightened. He leaned against the backrest of the couch, still processing the last bits of information he, so shockingly, had learned today.

“Oi, Zura, what brought you back to Kabuki-cho?” Gintoki asked.

“I have some questions, future Leader” Katsura beamed, ignoring Gintoki’s question.

“If you’re gonna ask if you and Matsu-nee ******, then I can only say, you’re a total M” she chuckled, smirking haughtily at Katsura who was flushed red.

“W-What is that suppose to mean?!” Katsura erupted, “No, I refuse! I could never ****** with her, much less ****** or even *******!”

While Katsura was erupting and spewing more terms in needed for censorship and while Gintoki was teasing him further, present Kagura leaned her head closer to her future self, “What did you mean by that?”

Future Kagura felt Shinpachi leaning closer, trying to get into the gossip also. Crossing her arms, future Kagura sighed, “The last time I ever heard from Zura was that he was still journeying the country, with the former Kiheitai members and he hasn’t returned for two years. He remained the same and refused to pursue Matsu-nee”

Melancholy painted their faces. They watched Katsura as he argued with Gintoki with more obscenities, meanwhile, their boss just all the more teased him and laughed at his pathetic and blushing face. Who knew that an enigmatic, strong and composed man like him would lose all his wits (as if he had any IQ left, in the first place) because of a simple ramen shop owner? Probably the entire fandom, but oh well…

“Since when did you tie up your hair, Shinpachi?” present Kagura asked, “Was his hair like this in the future too?”

“Ignore that cheap Masaki Suda copycat” Gintoki groused, his eyes turning to them, “No one asked him to grow his hair only to have him complain about it because of the summer heat”

The said Masaki Suda copycat glared at his boss, “At least I had girls look my way today” he retorted, “I know they liked it! I felt it! And who are you calling a Masaki Suda copycat? He portrayed me—ME, in all of live-action glory, of all people!”

“Seriously, they casted a man in his late twenties to play a sixteen-year old?” Gintoki huffed, “Movie industry is so misleading nowadays… they have full grown adults play teenagers and set unrealistic standards about teenage life”

“No one asked for your opinion and besides, they casted a man in his late thirties to play a man in his late twenties!” Shinpachi bellowed.

“No one will know the difference anyway!” Gintoki retorted, “And besides, when the live-action movie came out, Shun Oguri was at his MID-thirties! There is a difference, Patsuan!”

“The same with Masaki Suda! When the film came out, he was just in his mid-twenties!” Shinpachi replied, “So you don’t get to make any complaints about me!”

“Oi, oi” present Kagura grumbled, “Are you gonna keep on complaining and shouting? You’re a pain in the ass, yes! I wonder how they blackmailed those big names to commit to lowly and shitty roles such as your characters”

“Oi, just because you got Kanna Hashimoto as your live action actress, you get too cocky”

“At least I never made a big deal about it!”

Katsura raised his fist, “You tell ‘em, Leader!” he cheered.

Gintoki jabbed his fist right in his head, “You have no right to be proud!” he scolded, “And besides, you need to apologize to Masaki Okada for the shit you put him through!”

“What the hell did I do?” Katsura yelled, rubbing his aching head.

“You had him doing those stupid shit you do—you even had him do that dumb Katsu-rap! The writers had Masaki Okada as a lame insert in the second movie when you were never even present in it during the original manga and anime!”

“At least I wasn’t the one whose **** was bulging in his dress!” Katsura snapped.

Meanwhile, “Who was it who named their ‘daughter’, Kanna?” Shinpachi drawled accusingly, complete with air-quotes.

“Blame the damn mangaka, not me, cherry boy!” present Kagura retorted, “And that ruse did not last long at all, didn’t it, yes?”

“W-w-wait—you had a daughter?” Gintoki shrieked, letting go of Katsura’s _haori_ , “When is this? What happened? Oi, Shinpachi, Kagura, was there some Gintama arc that I, the main character, was not in? After that boyfriend fiasco, you had the gall to have a daughter?!”

“It was just a guise, Gin-chan!” she retorted, “And besides, that was already four years ago and you only knew of this now? I thought you were the main character? You should’ve known!”

“Wait… now that I think of it” Gintoki paused, recalling that time he had stopped by the Yorozuya office after returning to Edo after a two-year journey around the country. He was just leaving Shinpachi there when he remembered hearing voices from the bathroom, “That kid in the bathroom was you?!”

“As I said, it was supposedly a disguise!”

“And here I thought Shinpachi was too desperate that he had become a lolicon”

“Oi! Stop it! I’m not a lolicon!” Shinpachi yelled, “Could we stop this already? We’ve been yelling at each other for three consecutive pages—we’re not helping to push the story forward!”

“This story is going nowhere anyway” Gintoki groaned, scratching his head, “Honestly, we’re just here for a lame attempt at comedic relief—”

The ground shook violently, causing all of them to fall headfirst onto the floor. A loud crash followed by the shouts of the people was heard outside. Sadaharu, who was in the corner of the room snoozing throughout the drama, opened his eyes and raised his head, curious as to what happened. Recovering first, future Kagura wobbled towards the entrance of the apartment but what met her was skeins of dust and smoke which sent her to a coughing fit. Everything was in a stale color of brown, entrapping her. Trailing behind her was Shinpachi and her present self who proceeded to stand at the foyer, covering their noses and mouths with their hands.

Squinting their eyes, they tried surveying the root cause of all this, but before they could make out anything from the smoke, hands grabbed onto their clothes and they were led back inside the apartment. As the three of them landed on the _genkan_ with a loud thud, the _shoji_ slid close and they could hear harsh breaths. Shinpachi raised his head, attempting to determine who had pulled them inside. In his hazy vision, he could make out shades of grey and bright silver and gold—a human and an Amanto, or seemed like it.

Before he could speak, a flash of white had sped past his vision and the _shoji_ door was immediately destroyed. Out on the dusty foyer, the older Kagura was strangling the figure of silver and gold before he kicked her off and she came tumbling down the street.

“Kagura-chan!” he called, scrambling out of the apartment.

“Kagura!” called the distinct voice of Umibouzu.

Umibouzu had leapt down from the foyer and back down onto the street in an attempt to stop her but his daughter shoved him off and vaulted back on the foyer, landing a swift kick onto the Amanto’s face. Staggering back, the Amanto pulled out his blaster from his holster and aimed at the woman.

“Kagura! Konjuku!” called Umibouzu.

“Stay out of this, old man” spat future Kagura.

Future Kagura pounced towards to the Amanto, evading his shots and eventually her fist met with his torso and he was thrown up, colliding his head on the overhang of the roof. As he was coming down, Kagura was prepared to strike again when she was pulled aside by Umibouzu, “Stop! Kagura!” he yelled at her.

The woman only punched his face, “I said stay out of this!” she roared, “I don’t know why you brought him here but I won’t certainly let this bastard live!”

Umibouzu collided with Shinpachi, crushing the poor man.

Standing up, the Amanto was seething in anger. Emerald orbs were glowering fiercely at her, fists were clenching and teeth gritting. Kagura lunged for another attack, ignoring Shinpachi’s cries for her to stop and she and the Amanto engaged in battle. Bit by bit, the foyer was being destroyed and debris was flooding around them. Kagura landed a jab on his chest while he kneed her in the chin. It did not help that the Amanto had the obvious advantage in height and agility. The Amanto flung her to the wooden floor and through they went, causing a huge hole in the process.

“Kagura!” Umibouzu yelled, finally gaining consciousness.

The woman grabbed the Amanto just as they struck the ground and wrapped her hands around his neck, “You deserve to die…” she hissed. _Defiance is futile, hunter… I have already destroyed everything._

Shakily, the Amanto grabbed her face and forcefully pried her off. He shot up, ramming his head onto hers, sending her flying and crashing into the hull of the spacecraft in the middle of the street. It did not take a second before Kagura had sprung out from the dirt, looking unscathed. In an incomparable speed, she lunged for the Amanto once more. _You have not protected anything, rather, you have taken and devastated in the name of honor._

“Damn you, you brat! We don’t have any freaking cent to pay for the repairs!” yelled Gintoki who had sprinted out of the apartment. He leapt down from the foyer and landed on the ground, “Just because you’re not from around here doesn’t mean you go causing trouble! Think about your Gin-chan, dammit!”

Before he could even move, a body rammed into Gintoki and both of them collided with the walls of the old snack bar. Umibouzu landed in front of them, with his parasol in hand, “Take him and leave” he muttered.

“W-what?”

“I’ll handle this stupid daughter of mine, just get him to safety” Umibouzu said.

“Who’re you calling stupid daughter, you bald geezer?!” yelled present Kagura from above them.

“Kagura-chan, you heard your dad, we have to leave” Shinpachi said.

“No” replied Kagura, jumping down and landing beside her father, “I’ll help.”

“Kagura—"

“You don’t have any idea of what that man has done” said her future counterpart, approaching them with a murderous glint in her eyes, “He’s the enemy, dammit!”

Future Kagura lurched forward but her fist only met with a purple parasol.

“Yes, I don’t know what’s going on here, but what you’re doing isn’t what Kagura would do, yes” said her present counterpart, “No matter what, either a criminal or not, Kagura would not use her strength to blindly kill someone…”

Recoiling back, future Kagura attacked from a different angle but her present self met with her with a determined look in her eyes. Umibouzu tried to restrain her but she headbutts him, pushing him back. However, it was not strong enough to halt the great alien hunter and returned the headbutt, causing her to fall forward. Still, she stood up again and the three of them battled intensely.

“Kagura, stop this!” grunted Umibouzu, wrapping his arms around her with his parasol at her neck. The woman only flung him over her shoulder with ease.

She tried to chase Gintoki and Konjuku once more but her present self stopped her, “You’re not going anywhere” she hissed, before hitting her with consecutive attacks.

“You don’t understand—he’s my mission! He is the enemy!” she screamed, shoving the present Kagura aside.

“He might be the enemy but I’m not letting him be killed by myself who isn’t sane!”

A single bullet. It went through her ankle. The future her stilled—the pain settled in, her nerves jolted, her heart palpitated—realization had struck upon her. The seconds passed by slowly. Everyone’s eyes were on her, watching, waiting. She sank her head low, hiding her quivering lips and her paled face. Everything around her swirled, everything was fuzzy and everyone’s voices blurred. Her raging cerulean eyes turned blank and her fists shook, “H-he… he… that man…” she muttered.

“He is not the enemy, Kagura” she could hear her father say but all of it rolled away from her senses.

Rather than listening to reason, she raised her head, face gleaming in anger, terror and madness, “He murdered an entire system!” she yelled, “He murdered trillions and I could do only so much as watch as he did it!” _Defiance is futile, hunter… I have already destroyed everything._

“Kagura, whatever happened in your timeline, whatever he did… he hasn’t done it, yet” Umibouzu replied, cautiously, “Maybe it would be gratifying for you to kill him but it would be pointless since it did not happen yet and it won’t change the events of the future, _your_ future…”

She tore her gaze away from Konjuku and eyed her father instead. The tremoring was still violent, the call of her blood was still strong, her anger was still ablaze. Kagura altered between her father and Konjuku, who was currently being supported by Gintoki.

“Listen to me, Kagura… he is not the enemy” Umibouzu said once more, “Whatever happened in the future… you were wronged, we were both wronged in the future. The Krimons are not our enemy…”

_You have not protected anything, rather, you have taken and devastated in the name of honor._

_Kill her._

She gaped at her father, confused and outraged. The next words disintegrated and she was left with ringing silence. There were tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill. A part of her wanted to believe her father but something else forced her and relived the horror and the destruction she witnessed; the white light, dozens of planets disintegrated one by one, hundreds of corpses surrounding her, his lifeless eyes staring back up at her whilst she bathed in their blood—it reminded her of the enemy that is standing before her, mere meters away. Her blood was calling out to her and all she was left to do was to succumb to it and get that bastard once and for all.

The ground beneath her became hazy, then all off a sudden, the world turned black.

There was no turning back.

Charging, the now Yato madwoman, had a blank look on her face. Her cerulean eyes were void of any emotion, her pale skin was like a corpse, her teeth were white and feral, everything else was disheveled, tattered and crumpled. Shinpachi, who was perched on top of the foyer froze, as memories from six years ago came flashing through his eyes. Gintoki felt his lips quiver, unable to recognize that look in her eyes—hell, he was not even sure if that was the same Kagura who had just been laughing at Katsura mere minutes ago, the same Kagura whom reflected life and radiated hope in her eyes, the same Kagura whom he practically raised for years. There was now nothing, but rage and obscurity in those eyes. She was like a living alabaster corpse—void of anything but the resentment she felt and her boiling blood. Gintoki clutched his _bokuto_ a little tighter.

Umibouzu and present Kagura were ready to fight, determined to beat her to a pulp if it meant to render her sane, to pull her out of the hellhole that is her insatiable blood.

“Kagura-chan!” Shinpachi called, scrambling to get down from the balcony and chase after the maddened Yato.

Gintoki pulled out his _bokuto,_ just in case. _Just in case…_

As she approached, Gintoki failed to notice Konjuku escaping his hold. Before he could say anything, shafts of energy went through in between Umibouzu and present Kagura and struck the mad Yato straight onto the head and she was on the ground in a second, unconscious.

“Kagura-chan!” yelled Shinpachi, crouching down beside her motionless body.

Turning their aghast gazes towards Konjuku, the man simply sighed, “My blaster’s set to stun” he muttered.

* * *

Dabbing wet cloth onto her forehead, present Kagura stared at her future counterpart’s unconscious and grimy figure. Carefully, she wiped the muck off her face and then, to her neck. She slowly recalled the events earlier, how her future self succumbed to her enraged blood, how she attacked mindlessly and aimed to kill. Seeing that blank look on her own eyes, on her own face, she became terrified, suddenly.

She heard a _shoji_ door open and then close, putting her out of her stupor. She continued her job, cleaning both arms gently with the warm cloth. Currently, they were inside Gintoki’s bedroom. Night had settled in hours ago and everything was silent outside. A bright lamp from the corner of the room and the light from the living room was the only things letting her see. Her vermillion hair glistened, her pale skin was drenched in hoary lights and sweat trickled down her nape, cold and prickling.

In this light, in this distance, Kagura could study her future self’s features in a whole new light. She could see remnants of scars on her forehead, on her chin that would probably fade away in due time. Her lips were dry and her skin was a little rough. Her nerves and blood vessels were faintly visible, trailing down on her legs, her hands and her neck. Speaking of which, she noticed there was a chain necklace peering from her collar and that her other earlobe had a small loop earring, thin and barely visible. The future her had grown—grown a little older.

The _shoji_ behind her open, revealing Gintoki who had his usual blank stare, “Everything’s been taken care of” he muttered, “The old woman wasn’t exactly happy at what happened but she understood”

Kagura merely nodded.

“Also, your father asks for all of us in the office” he left as he said so.

Kagura followed curiously. As she emerged to the office, everyone was there, including Konjuku who was clad in bandages. Shinpachi, Katsura and Sadaharu were standing by the couches while her father and the Amanto had sat on the couch, both looking grim.

“If I may ask, what did you shoot Kagura-chan with?” asked Shinpachi.

“This blaster is made in my planet. Strong enough to incapacitate even the Yato” answered the Amanto, “She’s fine, just incapacitated for a while”

Silence followed after that. Gintoki merely proceeded to his desk while Kagura sat on the unoccupied couch, “Why’d you ask for all of us?” she asked.

Umibouzu breathed sharply, “After me, Kamui and Kagura separated, I decided to investigate the Union which led me to the Krimons. Long story short, the Krimons were the only ones who didn’t fall for the Union schemes for an inter-galactic invasion. The Union exploited resources and Altana reserves from other planets, especially theirs granting that they would leave their planet alone. This is Admiral Konjuku of the Krimons” he said, “A former engineer of the Union who defied their scheme and apparently… one of the last survivors of Planet Kromos”

“I don’t know why or how but Union warships gathered around our planet” spoke Konjuku, “We tried to fight them off but we were destroyed immediately… the Altana they had gathered from different planets and ours had given birth to a planet killer… and Kromos was wiped out with one shot”

“We barely got out… me and his crew, by infiltrating one of their ships and escaping from there” Umibouzu continued, “You see, this Union, their goal was never to unite planets, but rather, use the pretense of an alliance to extract resources and Altana to amass a fleet enough to create an empire to conquer the galaxy”

“So everything that the future me and Papi did?”

“We were played into their hands—rather, our future selves were” Umibouzu said, “If I get my story correct, Admiral Konjuku would have formed the extremist faction that which attacked and destroyed the Union figureheads eight years from now”

“Yeah, and murder an entire system” Gintoki scoffed.

Everyone turned to Gintoki with appalled faces. Shinpachi glared at him, “Gin-san” he scolded.

“Look, I’m sorry that your planet got destroyed… but whatever happened or whatever happens in the future, whether you destroy an entire system or not, I could care less about it” uttered Gintoki, “But I don’t like it if you come in here, to our planet, bearing a red flag for the Union and risking danger for all of the innocent people of Earth”

“We only came to tell my daughter” Umibouzu said, “She needed to know of this”

“And what? Drag her into another war, give her more nightmares, more deaths in her hands?” Gintoki bore his strict gaze towards Umibouzu, “What she needs is to go home, back to her timeline. She’s done nothing with this”

“Gin-chan, it’s alright”

All eyes turned to future Kagura, who was standing by the bedroom’s _shoji._ She looked calm but extremely guilt-ridden.

“I’m not a young girl anymore, I’m an alien hunter, yes” she said, “Can’t say the same for the present me, though”

That earned a glare from her present counterpart.

“You brat, for once could you say that you have done enough?”

“No, I can’t” she replied, earning a grumble of incoherent noises from Gintoki which, she guessed, were curses, “I don’t know why the Union would suddenly destroyed Kromos, they’re fairly innocent and the Union had use for them… so I doubt that this was an orchestrated attack”

“You’re saying that some idiot went rogue on their own organization and killed an entire planet?”

“That is a possibility… I’ve dealt with the Union Board and they could be pacifists so as long as they get what they need, yes” future Kagura said, “At this point of time in my timeline—no, rather Kromos had always been silent in their radars, even after the extremist group had diverged, so there was no need for it to be destroyed”

“Old man Gengai mentioned that this was already an alternate reality so maybe they have done something different than in yours, yes?”

“It only became an alternate reality when I came in” she replied, “They still couldn’t have known about it”

Shinpachi released a shaky breath, “So in order to do that, they must’ve had an assimilated information about the future” he pointed out.

The boss scratched the back of his ears, “Wait, wait… all these future and space talk is killing off my brain cells” he grumbled, “Are you actually saying that it might not be just you who entered the black hole and got blasted here?”

“The timeline had already changed” Katsura supplied, “If in future Leader’s timeline, the planet was not destroyed and, in this timeline, it was, before anything could happen, then it’s only possible.”

“That seems to be valid” Umibouzu nodded slowly.

“Konjuku” she said, facing him, “Although I can’t forgive you for detonating a star and killing trillions of lives, for dragging me and everyone into war, and for being the reason why I am stuck here in the past, it is not who you are yet and being that I’m in the past, I’ll be here to stop you from becoming the man from my timeline and I’ll be with you in stopping the Union”

“Kagura—”

“Gin-chan” uttered Kagura, “The future is in shambles, my present exactly, and I’m not gonna let this present be torn into shambles too, yes”

“That’s too much of a responsibility to bear” Shinpachi debated.

“She has me, yes?”

Everyone turned to her present counterpart, “I’ll go with them” she declared as she was standing up, “That way, she wouldn’t have to shoulder the burden alone, yes”

“Leader…”

“Kagura-chan”

Katsura and Shinpachi looked at her with outmost concern. Of course, they would be. They were her brothers, a part of her newfound family, even if only figuratively, and while she respected their concerns, she knows that they would not be able to stop her if she does wish to go along with them. Sadaharu whimpered and nudged his head onto her arm and she patted him in return.

“Zura, Shinpachi, it’s fine” she acknowledged with a comforting smile, “Gin-chan, I know I’ve just got back a few days ago but I will be taking another leave from work and I won’t know when I’ll be back” continued present Kagura, shifting her sights to her boss.

Gintoki sighed, “It can’t be helped, I guess” he said, “You’ll still go anyway even without my permission.”

“You don’t need to be in this… you’ve done nothing” future her said.

“I’m you, you’re me, so you should know yourself better than anyone, yes?” she replied, “You should know that I could not turn away from this, whether or not it had something to do with me… because I am an alien-hunter and a Yorozuya member—it’s in my job description, yes.”

Future Kagura merely smiled, “Please tell the old mechanic about this, yes” said the future Kagura.

“Hold on, I’m not your errand boy” argued Gintoki, standing up in defiance, “Tell him yourself”

“Thank you” uttered Konjuku, “Thank you, very much”

“Don’t thank us yet, old geezer” present Kagura said, “We haven’t done anything yet”

* * *

_Around her, wrapped in the grey and silver, echoing noises protruded in her head. Beyond the metal rims was the hallow void of space where death was awaiting. Finally, she could see a flicker of great light, beyond the distance where horizons dissipated._

_As callous hands ditched her on the titanium floors, she considered kicking the shit out of these goons but alas, the restraints that held her is beyond resilient, even in the mercy of a Yato’s strength. Golden figures stood before her but she could not care, even as they speak, she coerced herself not to listen._

_Beating up these damned thugs was no issue. She was able to successfully do so even if restrained. However, when she was shot with a blaster, her body stopped responding. Falling to the floor haphazardly, she attempted to move away but a boot made its way to her neck, cutting off her air supply._

_“Defiance is futile, hunter… I have already destroyed everything.” The voice that halted her altogether._

_There must have been a reason why there were wide portholes. When her eyes darted against the view just before her, light engulfed her cerulean orbs. Her heart hammered and then skipped a beat. Her mind stopped functioning and she grew too pale. Light stretched all over the place, everything reduced to mere beautiful but horrifying stardust. Barely registering that the Krimon warlord had already released her neck, she remained still and drawn to the damning light._

_Coughing and crying, all that was left was nothing but various colors. She was too helpless to do anything and so she screamed instead._

_“You have not protected anything, rather, you have taken and devastated in the name of honor” continued the Krimon warlord._

_There were no words left but a horrid cry. Her heart continued to hammer and her body felt like electrifying._

_The last words she last remembered before everything blacked out, “Kill her.”_

“Ore-chan” called a similar voice.

She blinked, remembering where she is at currently.

The foyer outside the Yorozuya apartment was thoroughly destroyed but for the meantime, they had placed a plywood to cover the damage. Kagura cringed at the damage and felt the guilt jab right at her chest. Turning to her present counterpart instead, she could see that the older woman never looked more uncertain and distant.

“I scared you, yes?” She asked. After losing to the call of her blood earlier, she had feared that everyone was now afraid of her.

Even if her present counterpart could not answer, it had been obvious. Future Kagura could only sigh.

“You killed him… in cold blood, yes?” Asked present Kagura.

“Yes” she replied, averting her gaze, “I-I’m sorry…”

Her present counterpart did not give a response but rather, she held her quivering hands and squeezed them tightly. It was a measly gesture but it was most comforting. No one understood her more than herself, of course. She knew that there were no words to be said, none of them were appropriate anyway.

All of a sudden, screams and panicked cries were heard. Not unusual for the rowdy Kabuki District but the chords had struck different. Looking up, they saw a falling star, followed by a loud cry from behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope you understood their whole discussion here. I'm afraid I went a little too technical with this.
> 
> Also, I apologize for my lame attempt in comedy.
> 
> As always, leave a kudos or a review... it helps. Criticisms are also welcomed.  
> Updates again on Friday, please stay tuned.


	10. If the ceiling disappeared then the sky will fall in our sleep.

> _If the ceiling disappeared then the sky will fall in our sleep._

* * *

It was at this undistinguishable time, the giant star loomed over the dark and endless horizon. Gravity may have had held him together and apart. A brilliant light surrounds him, like a daytime, however, it was all superficial. As if knowingly, an idea formed in his pretty little head. He threaded a little farther and into the light, soaking the funny sight before him. Suspicious as it may seem, he tried not to let himself get more curious, jokingly thinking that he might lose all is hair in the process. Hovering above him, was some shade. His skin was itching and felt like burning, even under the layers, and it was starting to irritate him. However, he smiled and it was the most hideous, most horrific smile to ever grace his nonchalant face.

Looking up, every little thing was upside down, briskly moving but unperturbed. A fascinating sight, he thought.

There were no ceilings, just pavements—as if it makes any sense.

“Do you want to get caught?” there was an obvious scowl in his words.

Turning around, Kamui merely chuckled at his companion, “Let them—they’ll only get killed anyway” he replied.

“Seriously, Captain” Abuto sighed.

Footsteps approached him and back to the shade. Kamui slung his parasol over his shoulder, “So what have you gathered?” he asked.

“Your father is right” Abuto replied, before receiving a glare from Kamui, but he just shrugged it off, “The Union did blow up Kromos to bits and the last underground shipment of Altana from Kromos arrived just now”

Kamui scoffed, “As if I’d care for some weak race like them”

“But you made us come here still?” Abuto raised a brow.

Kamui smiled as usual, “I was just curious about this Union he spoke of” he said, “If they’re indeed a second grade Tendonshu copycat, then us pirates should do something about that, right?”

“You’re becoming more like your sister” Abuto muttered, obviously exasperated.

Still, it was a mystery why Umibouzu had sent a message to them, stating of the Union’s intentions, complete with coordinates of their large starbase, but it enthralled their captain. An enemy following in the footsteps of the Tendonshu was the best thing he heard in a long while and it sent him to a fit of laughter. Knowing their captain, he might as well just shrug off his father’s message but what surprised them was the determination that sparkled in his eyes. Before long, they headed for the coordinates provided to them and ambushed a feeble cargo ship to arrive inside. Covertly, they had been snooping around the starbase for what seemed like twenty-four hours already, but the ever daylight prevented them from really knowing so.

“What are we really doing here, Captain?” Abuto asked.

“Beats me” Kamui replied, “I was just really curious about this Union—it might become a bother in the future”

Abuto chuckled. “We scouring for enemies now?”

“We must know our enemies—of course, before they consider us theirs” Kamui replied, “Though I have to say, this starbase of theirs is really fascinating…”

“It runs solely on Altana” Abuto supplied, shifting his sights onto the bizarre infrastructure they are in, “Altana they have been harvesting from their associated planets and Kromos”

Kamui scoffed, “They’re even gutsier than the Tendonshu, I see” he remarked, “They’re not really being discreet… I’m really gonna enjoy it here”

Raising a brow, Abuto looked really concerned, “What do you mean enjoy? What are you planning on doing, Captain?”

Waving his hand dismissively, he trotted away, “Just ready a ship we can escape in” he said.

“’Just ready a ship’ is a very vague description” Abuto argued, “What are you gonna do? Oi!”

Panic rose from Abuto’s insides, he called out to his crazed captain, but the gleaming flame of coral just hopped away like the bunny he always is. Abuto always feared that someday, they would be in for more trouble because of their captain, a trouble they might not escape from. As much as he did not want it to be so, he had an idea of what Kamui was going to do. He has known that kid since he was but a tiny brat. Watching him grow and rise through the ranks, he knew Kamui best, aside from his family. He could feel it—said trouble was looming around the dark horizon not far away.

* * *

Around her stood tall concrete walls, decorated modestly. The ceiling is still and the glass windows were cracked on the edges. Bright lights hollered from below and smoke littered the sky. It was past eleven in the evening and the city could not be more alive.

The room might as well crash on her already. Pulling herself up, her auburn eyes frantically shifted around, at loss for words. The doors flung open, startling her. A pair of dark crimson met her gaze and everything felt heavier all of a sudden.

_“I find it hard to believe… this—this is…”_

_“Oi, Hanano! Hanano! The line went dead!”_

_“Ladies and gentlemen, what appears to be this mysterious ship which crash landed near our shores seems to be unidentified from Immigration records… we’ll have to wait for any statement made by the Immigration Bureau Director—"_

_Flick_.

_‘At ten fifty in the evening today, what appeared to be a large spaceship was falling three kilometers off of Edo shore, no clearance from the Terminal nor transmission was ever received from the ship. The ship crashed on the ocean and caused a tremor and a minor tsunami.’_

_“We’ll cut to the Immigration Bureau Director, currently live—”_

_“Director, do you have any idea on what that ship is? Or where it belongs to?”_

_"That’s the thing, it’s not in any existing records… this ship is unmarked and could possibly be illegal. We have studied the surveillance but with the large damage it sustained, it’s impossible to detect the origins of this ship or even its passengers—assuming that there are still those are alive”_

_“Wait, I’m getting new info—”_

_Silence._

_"It seems that the Terminal had picked up another ship that entered our orbit—and it’s said to be similar to the ship that just crashed our shores—oh, we’re getting live feed from the satellites?”_

The screen buzzed and showed a blurry footage of a ship hovering still near Earth. Her eyes squinted, trying to make out the image of the ship but all she could see was black, grey and faint light from the ship’s thrusters.

_“Did you see that? I-It’s a massive ship! Almost like a warship.”_

_“Again, just in, apparently our satellites also picked up this quick footage from space, minutes before the ship crashed onto our waters.”_

The satellite footage did not catch it in its entirety, however, it was clear that the now-downed ship was engaged in a space battle with another ship. However, the other ship had the obvious advantage.

_“That was close! It almost hit our satellite!”_

_“That other ship is obviously better equipped… this is concerning.”_

_“Could we try to contact it, Immigration Director?”_

_“The staff in the Terminal is in charge of making contact with them… any developments will go through us”_

“Nobume, contact the Terminal, tell them, I’m coming” said the woman, meeting her crimson irises once more, “Any transmission from that alien ship will also go through me”

“Understood” said Nobume, leaving the office once more in a rush.

She stood up from her leather seat, grabbed the tablet and sped off the office. She marched through the hallways knowingly and exited the building in record time. Imai Nobume, clad in her white uniform and katana in hand, was waiting by the door.

In all her years as the Prime Minister, it was not the first time they encountered alien ships suddenly intruding into their orbit and began crashing things onto their land and causing destruction. In fact, she had already met too many to have last a life time’s work. Tokugawa Soyo knew that it was in her job quota to calmly resolve these issues without ensuing more damage than before or possibly fueling another intergalactic war, in which she had done so successfully over the past six years. She watched the footage once more, pausing exactly at the satellite footage of the massive spaceship that hovered their atmosphere. The image did not improve one bit, but her scrutinizing eyes picked up more details than it did a while ago.

The hull of the ship was circular and massive. A bulk shaft was under the hull, connecting to the engines. It was indeed different from the ships that entered and left Edo before. Soyo nor even Nobume, could not recognize it. Judging by it, the ship has equipped advanced technology exceeding their current knowledge. Only the universe could pull such feat, of course.

Arriving at the largest tower in all of Edo, the Terminal was the most glorious infrastructure that the Amanto had bestowed upon them. The very pinnacle of their influence. Around it, reporters had flooded, waiting for new developments. It was not shocking for the two women to arrive at such sight. Evading the reporters who had attempted to gather around the women, Soyo and Nobume entered its grand doors and staff came running to shield them.

Wordlessly and hastily, the two women were led to their administration office were every head official working in Amanto relations and Terminal operations had gathered. They were surprised to see the prime minister present, but welcomed her all the same.

Nobume stood guard by the window as Soyo took a seat among the table. Without any preamble, the prime minister asked, “What’s the situation?”

“We could not still say for sure” answered one of the officials, “The ship that crashed on our seas could not be touched since we do not know what it could do… readings also show faint radiation leaks, unknown. It would be hard for our own men to get there without knowing what we’re up against”

“What about the ship up in the atmosphere?”

“Still no signs of movement, the current satellite feed has been static for the past minutes” said another.

“If they are indeed responsible for crashing the other ship, what should we do?” asked another.

Noise erupted from the various people seated on the rectangular table. Amanto and human alike were talking and arguing over the matter. Nobume watched over Soyo, as she elected to remain quiet in the middle of the dispute. Despite their difference in titles, they were friends. She was worried for her. This job she took six years ago, at a mere age of seventeen, was too much to bear but Soyo kept strong and did her work to reestablish Edo, in honor of her late brother. That being said, Nobume knew that every decision Soyo made was what she thought is for the best and she trusted her judgment. She would not maintain her loyalty to the prime minister if she did not trust her, of course.

Soyo raised her head and tapped onto the table, loud enough for the table to be silenced. All eyes turned to her, curiously.

“Can we hail them?” Soyo asked, “If they’re gonna keep hovering over our atmosphere, at least, we could have a decent talk”

Settling down, the table grew silent. Nobume knew it was her time to intervene and swung her sheathed katana onto the table, blood red irises glaring down at them, “The prime minister asked a question… now answer it” she hissed.

“T-Technically… w-we could try—”

“Then, do it” Soyo replied, “I will talk to whoever is in charge”

One of the officials scrambled out of the office. The rest was left to silence and gaped at the woman at the edge of the table who was trying her best to maintain a calm and stern façade. It was a good thing Nobume was there to help her or she would not have things go her way.

“Are you sure about this, Prime Minister?” asked one of the officials.

“Yes, of course” she replied, “As Prime Minister of this country, I would do everything in my power to maintain the peace in my territory”

Everyone was silenced once more.

The doors suddenly burst open, a loud thud echoing through the room. The figure immediately opened up the large television which hung on the wall. The news was immediately on.

_‘Breaking news: Massive alien ship hovering above Earth’s orbit has entered 500 kilometers into the atmosphere’_

_“Our satellites have picked up visual that the alien ship outside our atmosphere had just entered and continuously descending down to Earth. We still not gaining any oncoming transmission from them nor any word from the massive ship that just crash landed on our ocean”_

_“We have yet to receive anything from the Immigration Bureau nor the administration at the Terminal”_

_“We have also received word that the Prime Minister, Tokugawa Soyo had arrived inside the Terminal. I bet she’s trying to assess the current situation and have it under control…”_

_“Wait—this just in! The massive spaceship has just dispatched what seems to be… small w-warbirds?! H-here’s the satellite footage, everyone—”_

Just as the reporter had said, the footage had shown a fleet of warbirds had departed from their main vessel and was descending down the atmosphere in a faster pace. Panic rose around the room, freezing every official in place. Nobume carefully approached the shocked Soyo and placed a hand on her shoulder, “You have to focus” she mumbled.

For the third time that night, Soyo had been startled. Though she was still young, this was becoming too much for her body to take. But she appreciated Nobume’s wake up call. The woman was right after all. She had to stay focused on the task at hand.

With that, Soyo stood up immediately, “We have to go the transmissions bay” she said.

Nobume nodded and both of them sped off immediately.

They had one of the guards show them the way to the transmissions bay which was on the topmost floor of the Terminal. Arriving there, there was chaos. Soyo was a tad bit stunned but Nobume gently pulled her through the room.

The official whom left earlier met with them with surprise in his eyes. He looked more disheveled than he did earlier in the office, Soyo had noted.

“We couldn’t patch through… rather, they wouldn’t respond” he said exasperatedly.

“Could you patch through to the police headquarters?” Nobume asked.

“Of course” replied the official before getting to work.

“If you’re gonna negotiate with these hard-headed idiots, I suggest you have some aces up on your sleeves” Nobume said, “We could still have some tactical advantage.”

Soyo merely nodded. After a while, the official had given Nobume the comms whom passed it down to the prime minister. Soyo took a deep breath, “Matsudaira-san?” she asked.

 _“I’m too old for this, little missy”_ he said, _“But I have the ships ready to intercept these damned warbirds if they ever fire at our city also, I had the Shinsengumi evacuate the people back into their homes”_

“Thank you, old man” replied Nobume.

“Matsudaira-san?” called Soyo again, “Please have Shinsengumi barricade the crash site. Whatever is in there is clearly what this massive ship might be after. They’ll be the last line of defense if anything else should fail.”

 _“Alright then, little missy”_ answered Matsudaira.

“Thank you” Soyo replied, before ending the call.

Turning back to the official, Soyo hands him the comms, “Hail the alien ship again” she said.

“Commencing targeted comm burst” said the official, pressing onto some buttons over the control panel, “We aren’t actually hailing the ship but the I’ll have the satellites forcefully transmit a message for you… let’s hope they’re listening.”

After flipping some switches and pressing more buttons, the official handed Soyo the comms. The transmissions bay was commanded to silence at once. The prime minister took the device hesitantly. Her heart was pounding loudly, her hands and feet were getting sweaty and she was quivering. Taking deep breaths, she placed the comms near her mouth and flickered her gaze over the large visual from their satellite.

It was now or never, “Attention, this is Prime Minister Tokugawa Soyo of Edo” she said, “You are an alien ship currently trespassing our territory and you have sent warbirds down to, what I assume to be, the location of the downed ship on our waters—now, I advise you not to continue with your plan. I advise you to stop your warbirds and we discuss this matter or suffer retaliation from our own forces.”

Soyo immediately finished the transmission.

Her face was flushed and pale, her breathing was hitched and heavy and her legs and arms were shaking uncontrollably. Despite her intimidating speech earlier, she did not really look intimidating at all. In fact, any second now, the prime minister was bound to collapse. Nobume was amused at this and stifled a laugh.

“Look!” said one of the people of the room.

Raising their heads up, the satellite feed showed the massive ship stopping. Seconds later, one of them announced, “We’re being hailed.”

“On screen” said the official.

The large screen showed a visual, a man with lavender skin and bright azure locks with a distinctive red mole on his forehead, dressed in a formal white Admiral-designed suit and a white coat draping on his shoulders. His amethyst orbs glowered down at them and his lips were curved into a scowl. For a second, Soyo trembled at the sight of the intimidating man.

“A Shinra?” mumbled Nobume.

 _“I have received your message, Prime Minister”_ his deep voice articulated, _“And I have my men on standby, now what do you want?”_

“All I want is for you to state your business for coming in here on Earth” Soyo replied, “Then, we shall discuss a compromise.”

 _“Well then, apologies, prime minister”_ he said in a condescending tone, _“Allow me to introduce myself… I am Admiral Barai, and I am here in official business on behalf of the Union.”_

“What business might that be?” she asked.

 _“That ship that we crashed onto your waters is headed by a traitor of the Union and currently, our gravest enemy, Admiral Konjuku. He is part of a hostile and savage race of Krimons”_ he replied, _“We are just finishing up our mission and we will certainly leave in peace”_

“What assurance do I have that you shall not harm my land?”

 _“We merely wish to get that war criminal and dispose of him”_ replied Admiral Barai, _“It’s up to him if he shall put on a fight then, we cannot promise anything.”_

“A downed ship like that… it’s unlikely that anyone survived” Soyo replied.

 _“He was not on that ship”_ said the admiral, _“We believed that he was already on Earth, particularly on your land, prior to the crash.”_

“So crashing that ship was simply an ultimatum?”

 _“If I violated your laws, then I apologize, prime minister”_ said Admiral Barai, _“But that criminal must be flushed out of his hiding so we could capture him.”_

“Then, let us find him instead.”

Admiral Barai gaped at the woman, with an unreadable look in his face. He was not sure whether or not to take her seriously.

“I’m more concerned about my people and I don’t want your warbirds rampaging on our lands. We currently have our police forces around Edo at this moment and we have more to spare to find your criminal” Soyo supplied as an attempt to persuade the admiral, “Just give us a visual of what this criminal looks like and we’ll dispatch squads to hunt him down, if he is really in here, then rest assured we will find him.”

The man on screen scowled. He did not respond for a while, contemplating whether or not to take on the offer. Sweat threaded down at her forehead then to her nape, her fingers were twitching and the pit of her stomach twisted anxiously. Soyo was trying her best to keep her brave face but every second longer, she was slowly losing.

“We know this land better than anyone, we’ll have him surrounded immediately” Soyo said, “Just supply us with what he looks like.”

Sighing, the admiral silently worked from his console and a picture appeared on the side of the screen. Quickly, the staff inside the transmission bay had taken a copy of the picture. Soyo smiled, “I’m glad we’ve come to an arrangement, admiral”

 _“Don’t get excited, prime minister”_ said the admiral, _“You have twelve hours to find him for us or we’ll personally come down there and ravage the land if we have to.”_

Then, the transmission got cut.

When the screen became black, the room darkened. Soyo’s smiled faltered, “N-Nobutasu” she mumbled.

Crimson orbs met desperate auburn ones, “Have the Mimawarigumi find the criminal and I want you to lead the search” she said, “You heard him, we have twelve hours…”

* * *

Police forces had every inch of Edo barricaded. For twenty-four hours, the prime minister had declared the country on lockdown, effective immediately. Local police forces on all provinces of the country were also alerted and on the hunt for the criminal. News had erupted at the developments and everybody was made aware of the negotiation and the current manhunt. The Shinsengumi had barricaded the crash site with their airships. Mimawarigumi had been dispatched. All of this done within the hour.

Imai Nobume clutched her katana a little bit tighter.

Exiting the large building, the cool summer breeze greeted her causing her navy hair fluttering with the wind. Her crimson eyes scanned her surroundings. The road was immediately cleared of citizens and cars and instead out in the distance, blue and red flickered faintly. The highway was dark and desolate, not even street lights even helped. Her ears rung, the sound of silence has not met her in a while.

Prime Minister Tokugawa Soyo’s orders were resolute.

Manhunting had been Mukuro’s forte growing up. This was what she was trained for. Living creatures who did not deserve to live was met with their fates by her hand and by her sword. A little child turned into demon who grew up shackled with the fate of being a demise. Wordlessly, she followed the orders, she bathed in blood and took every bit of herself away. Little by little, life was lost onto her eyes and all she could see was red—agonizing red. The color of her eyes reflected every life she took while her sword carried the screams of her victims.

But that was Mukuro. A remnant of the past, reduced to a tattoo she could not take off but hides instead.

The name she now dons, she vowed to swing her sword for herself.

Looking up, the sky was painted in black. No blinking stars, no waning moon. Just black.

Nobume knew she had to leave, but something tugged her here, in this barren part of the Terminal. She walked calculatingly and kept her eyes straight in front of her. What met her were pillars of concrete and streetlamps guiding the way. It was almost empty, save for her and the presence hiding following her.

A gust of wind. A foreign footstep. Nobume immediately unsheathed her katana and raised it adjacently. Stopping abruptly as the blade reached the figure’s chin.

“Haven’t you heard of the orders? You are not supposed to be here” she said.

She faintly heard the figure stifle a whimper, followed by clearing of throat.

Veering her head, her suspicions have been immediately answered. Even if he was obscured by the shadows of the tall pillars, the white, as gleaming as hers, could not be mistaken. His hands were raised, fingers touching the blade slightly, “The same orders were what brought me here” he replied, inclining his head carefully to meet her scrutinizing gaze.

She could recognize a familiar mop of raven and thin-rimmed spectacles, “Shinpachi” she acknowledged, “I can’t have citizens running around Edo no matter the circumstance.”

Behind Shinpachi, a giant white mutt appeared from the shadows and barked eagerly.

Calmly, the man pushed the katana off his chin and Nobume retracted the blade away completely, “I know, Nobume-san, but I’m here on official business as a Yorozuya” he said, “It just so happens that our objectives might converge in a wrong way and I’m here to clear it up before that happens.”

“I’m listening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kamui makes a comeback. Nobume and Soyo are introduced. Yay.  
> If anyone is curious about what the Union starbase looks like, it looks like the Federation starbase in Star Trek Beyond.
> 
> As always, leave a kudos, bookmark, or a review... cuz it helps. Criticisms are also welcomed.  
> Updates again on Tuesday. Stay tuned~


	11. Three for tea, tea for three.

> _Three for tea, tea for three._

* * *

This feeling—he has not felt like this in a long time. It had been true—six years was indeed a very long time. Six years since he last had to run away, six years since he had to hide from the public’s eye, six years since he was last been deemed as a criminal. He wanted to laugh—the possibility of being the cops’ bittersweet eye candy once more after six years of peace between them was inevitable. It gave him a sense of nostalgia, a weird feeling of déjà vu. Runaway Kotaro had emerged again after six years of submersion.

Riding in Gintoki’s scooter, heading for the shoreside, he had done his best to evade the patrols around Edo. It did not help that the scooter’s engine was not exactly purring discreetly. It was hissing exceedingly and he had to take a longer detour than necessary.

“Are you sure about this, human?” asked the figure holding onto his back.

“Yes, if it gives off any comfort, I know Edo’s police force more than anyone in Edo” Katsura replied, “I know how they operate, how they fight, so rest assured, I can handle them just fine.”

To prevent from raising suspicion, Katsura had the Amanto behind him shed off his suit and wear one of Gintoki’s rare dark colored _yukatas_ even if it barely reached his knees. A dark colored _yukata_ over black slacks and combat boots was not exactly a good match for clothing but he had no time to complain as Edo’s police force was on a manhunt for him. It did not help that his golden skin was also noticeable, especially in the dark, so Katsura had to let him borrow his _sugegasa_ in hopes that no one would recognize him right away.

From the cliffside highway overlooking the sea, they could see the massive ship half submerged in the ocean. Debris was floating around it and smoke was rising from the damage. Katsura tore his gaze away from the ghastly sight and back at the road. “Are you sure your crew is safe?” he asked, “With that big of a damage and the huge impact earlier, no one could have survived.”

“The emergency escape pods are nearly indestructible” he replied, “It is made for surviving pressure far greater than that… they stay there, they will be safe for the meantime.”

“But do you have any idea how to get them out and to safety without being spotted?” Katsura asked. “If the police does find you and your crew, you’ll be, undoubtedly, taken in by force.”

Sighing, Konjuku sunk his head lower. “We’ll have to fight our way out if we must” he replied. “As much as I want to avoid confrontation, it can’t be avoided, especially if I’m being hunted.”

“Then, we’ll just have to hurry up” Katsura muttered, earning the attention of the Amanto, “I know those ships… they’re Shinsengumi’s.”

Konjuku tipped his head up and watched as large aircrafts were making its way to the location of his downed spaceship, “Shin—what?"

“The Shinsengumi and I were once enemies” Katsura said, “They would always be on my tail and I had to escape them all the time but that all changed six years ago… now, as much as I don’t want to be on their radar once more as a fugitive, I will risk it to save your crew.”

Scoffing, Konjuku returned his gaze to his downed ship, “You humans are foolish—making unnecessary promises and doing ridiculous deeds for a stranger.”

“You are not a stranger” replied Katsura, veering the scooter nearer the precipice to obscure them from a vessel passing nearby, “From what I had gathered from future Leader and earlier, you are a rebel who fought against foreigners whom wanted to claim your land and exploit your resources, doing it for the sake of liberating your people… and I can say with confidence that I, too, was once like you. I fought in a war against the Amanto, I was once a rebel fighting to liberate this country from them, I was a leader of a rebel faction and I’ve plotted against the government and the Amanto multiple times, and although our methods are far different, we have the same intention—and besides, your methods remind me of a comrade of mine once.”

“Did he blow up an entire system too?” Konjuku asked with spite.

“He might’ve” Katsura replied, “He simply wanted to destroy everything… like you did—well, future you. Now, I agree with future Leader, I will stop you from becoming the person you will become in eight years’ time and do everything I can to stop this fight now.”

“We can’t put up much of a fight now anyway” replied Konjuku, “My people had been decimated, save for me and my crew and even now, we are still in danger.”

“All the more reason you’d destroy everything, right?”

He was right.

Descending from the cliffside highway, the shores of Edo was getting increasingly near. In their peripheral visions, they could spot the ships of the Shinsengumi arriving just above the crash site and halting there. Katsura had feared this would happen. As they reached ground level, Katsura had pulled the brakes and dismounted the vehicle, followed by Konjuku. Of course, it bore a puzzled look from the Amanto, “Why are we stopping here?” he asked.

Grabbing his katana and strapping it securely on his waist, Katsura scanned his surroundings before he started climbing down the rocks. Wordlessly, he signaled the Amanto to come along. Though confused, the Amanto followed and found himself slinking through the crevices of the boulders and the cliffside, trailing behind the human who seemed to be an expert around these parts.

“Obviously, we can’t go to the shore” he said, “You’ll be spotted immediately but there is a different way to access the ship under the Shinsengumi’s noses—hopefully.”

“Care to share?” asked Konjuku, as he prodded himself up on top of the rocks.

It did not help that they were trekking through the cliffside with the jagged boulders and the deep waters surrounding them completely in the dark. Their only source of light had been the distant lights of the aircrafts surrounding the crash site and it did not even help them navigate through even one bit. Katsura fumbled with his hands and carefully took a step forward, gripping with the rocks tight. He quickly gave a sideways glance at Konjuku who was having his fair share of troubles and went back into blindly navigating his way.

“I initially came to Edo to meet up with a friend” he said, “I had almost forgotten about it, if not for your ruckus with future Leader earlier but it was a good thing he managed to arrive in time.”

Hoisting himself up, Katsura held onto the rocks for dear life and tiptoed slowly until his hands found a deep aperture. He staggered, hurriedly stepping foot inside the small cavern. He breathed a sigh of relief and waited for Konjuku to enter behind him.

Faintly, from the distance, they could see light. Wordlessly, they sauntered towards the source, bit by bit getting soaked in the warm light as they drew closer.

Veering left, they had reached the source. Katsura beamed, “Elizabeth!” He greeted.

 _‘Care to explain why we had to meet here?’_ Said the signboard.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this, old friend” said Katsura. “But I will need your help, like the old times.”

Inside this cavern, the Anti-Foreigner Rebels, mostly Katsura’s faction, have had used this in the past when they were hiding from the police, especially if they were pursued all over Edo. It was a good thing that this cavern remained unknown to the police force or else, this would have had been sealed off permanently from their reach. Now, it had been unused for years, especially since Katsura was pardoned of his supposed crimes after saving the country from war from years back. His faction had dispersed and left him but Katsura did not bother and lived quietly and around the country for the past years. Of course, Elizabeth was confused as to why he was asked to meet here but seeing who his friend’s companion is, it all made sense.

_‘Who is this Krimon?’_

Katsura was stunned. “Oh, so you know of his kind?”

 _‘The news of Kromos getting destroyed was shocking, so to say’_ said the signboard, followed by another, _‘And the fact that a Union warship was hovering just above Earth followed after it, I wouldn’t say it wasn’t a coincidence, especially after seeing his picture all over the news.’_

Konjuku nodded, “I see you’re made aware of the Union and Kromos’ history” he remarked.

“Elizabeth, I need your help in saving his crew” Katsura said.

 _‘Not that I don’t trust you, Katsura, but he’s a wanted fugitive by the Union and currently being hunted by the police.’_ Elizabeth flipped another signboard up. _‘If they see you with him, this could mean that you’ll be considered a fugitive too.’_

“I know but I don’t have time for that” Katsura replied, “I believe in Leader’s judgment, if she says she’ll help this man, then I’ll help as well, so please, Elizabeth… we have to save his crew and only you could sneak us inside under the Shinsengumi’s radars.”

_‘You know I will always have your back, Katsura, but you better be sure about what you’re about to do.’_

Katsura felt like tearing up, “Elizabeth…” he cried.

* * *

Blending in was not exactly the plan. They could not exactly blend in even if they wanted to.

Through the cold metal passageways, they were met with silence and emptiness. The lights were low and everything was painted in black.

“Do you recognize this ship?”

“This is a massive dreadnought, yes” she replied, “I’ve never seen this big of a ship from the Union before.”

“These are the same ships that attacked Kromos” replied Umibouzu, “And from the looks of it, it seems to be with technologically advanced weaponry and built to fit minimal crew.”

“At least we won’t be dealing with a lot of these bastards” grunted Gintoki.

With the spacecraft that Umibouzu and Konjuku used to get to Earth, they had used it to infiltrate the ship by blending in with the other retreating warbirds. Granted, the shuttle was very cramped but they at least made it through. Gintoki grumbled at the fact that he had to come along with them and fight in space. He hated space travel, was very uncomfortable with it. Growing up, surrounded by emerging alien technology and broadening horizons, he was settled with the idea of growing up and growing old with his two feet planted on Earth soil. However, his comrades made a big dent in his plans and found himself wandering in space and fighting a war. He cursed each and everyone of them, from Sakamoto to Kagura, but he found himself grateful for them in the end and smiled, as tarnished, battered and bruised as it may be.

Just then, tens of figures, covered in white pounced at them from above. Gintoki immediately took out his _bokuto_ and blocked their spears. Umibouzu, without delay, grabbed the opportunity to retaliate with bullets in which they evaded easily. Recoiling back, the figures in white regrouped and attacked them from opposite sides. The two Kaguras opened their parasols and shielded both sides whilst Gintoki and Umibouzu leapt out and ambushed them.

The brawl on the narrow passageway was won easily by the intruders but the sirens began to wail just as the fight was over. The four of them wasted no time and ran.

“These are the Shinra” noted Gintoki.

“Just as I thought” muttered future Kagura.

More enemies gathered in front of them. The younger Kagura fired another bout but they deflected it with their swords. They lurched forward with their speed, gliding through the wall effortlessly, swords and spears ready to attack. Umibouzu whacked one of the walls with his parasol, causing it to shake violently and collapse. Many were trapped in debris however, the rest of the them still standing continued their assault.

“You wanna share to the class what you just thought?” Present Kagura asked, fist colliding with the enemy’s neck.

“One of the admirals of the Union is a Shinra and most of his crew too” replied future Kagura while kicking her enemies one after the other, “Admiral Barai is a weirdo and a total war freak who despised the Krimons and when the star detonated, he was the first to propose annihilating Kromos”

“Unlucky that he is the bastard who got sucked up in the past” Gintoki commented, hitting another one of the Shinra on his head with his _bokuto_. “Even more unlucky that he messed with us”

“Seems like he had done his plan successfully this time around” Umibouzu grunted, headbutting one of his enemies, effectively splitting his skull in the process.

“I have a score to settle with that bastard” gritted future Kagura, landing a blow to her enemy’s head with her parasol.

After the last of their enemies was down to the ground, they continued their sprint. Even if they encountered more enemies, they were down in an instant without breaking a sweat.

It did not take long before they reached one of the larger chambers of the ship. Heavy machinery assembled around them, the smell of steam and fuel instantaneously stuffed into their noses and bright lights dazed their visons. Future Kagura scanned her surroundings and furrowed her brows. “We’re at the core” she announced. “There must be a turbolift in here so we can access the main hull.”

Gintoki raised a brow. “This room is freaky” he muttered, eyeing the large infrastructure at the center of the room.

“Well, this is the most crucial room of a ship” Umibouzu replied, “We mess something up, this ship will go down in an instant.”

“I think I found it!” called Kagura.

Turning his back away from the core, Gintoki sighed inaudibly. He realized how heavy the weight he is carrying—the weight of this ship, the weight of an entire deceased planet, the weight of his own land, the weight she shouldered for a long time. In front of him was the back of Kagura from the future—exhausted, guilt-ridden and yet, strong and determined. As they ascended through the lift, light was flickering before their eyes. The alabaster skin reflected in his dead crimson eyes and he felt as if he sees Kagura for the first time. No longer was she his little brat—it was not like she was his in the first place—but she is a revered alien hunter, a great heroine if not, the best. She always had been stronger than any man could ever be, was always jaunty for his liking and unrefined to ever to be considered a woman, but she existed before him like a precious little daughter or sister or whatever-it-was and he swore he would protect for as long as his strength could, for as long as until she could stand on her own. What he failed to realize was that she had been standing on her own all this time and he was just too tall to realize—really, even after she had finished puberty, she was still nowhere in his eye level. Kagura had already disappeared before his eyes and came back looking greater and gleaming like the cerulean sky. He knew that even if their paths would one day diverge, she will still come back, stronger and towering the moon and the stars.

The whole journey up was silent, but they all welcomed the silence. Their battles were loud and intense filled with screaming, grunting, bullets ricocheting, swords clashing and blood splattering. Arriving at the top, the lift stopped and automatically opened its doors.

Before them, Amanto with guns were aimed at them. Instinctively, future Kagura flicked her huge parasol open, shielding the four of them from their ammos.

“We have to get outta here” Umibouzu gritted, clutching Kagura’s parasol.

“Gin-chan, get behind me” commanded future Kagura.

Lurching forward, Kagura drove against bullets and energy beams with Gintoki pushing behind her, meanwhile, present Kagura and Umibouzu fired from the side, impaling their enemies until they were down and incapacitated. Gintoki leapt and broke their enemy’s formation with a swing from his _bokuto,_ sending them ramming against the walls.

Panting, Kagura used her parasol to balance herself. Her arms were starting to get tired and her feet were killing her. Gintoki looked back, worry started to settle in the pits of his stomach. How heavy the weight she carried, the burden of the entire universe seemed to have fallen on her shoulders, on her lithe back. _Goddammit, even fucking Atlas gave up carrying the heavens,_ Gintoki grumbled.

Her present counterpart approached her with the same worry in her eyes and gently placed her hand on her future self’s shoulder. The older woman smiled immediately, feeling the comfort, the warmth of a hand steeping in. She replied merely with placing her own hand on top of hers and pulled herself up. Her back straightened and her chin tipped up, meeting his gaze. Gintoki just scowled in return.

Umibouzu patted his daughter’s back gently, “We have to keep moving” he said.

Future Kagura nodded and took the lead. As the fairly lit corridors surrounded them like a maze, Kagura seem to know where she was heading. Enemies soon entangled with them from opposite directions but before long, they were on the floor with nothing left but the sound of pained breaths echoing throughout the halls.

Gintoki hissed, clutching the wound on his arm. Apparently, one of the Shinra got him good, but a wound like that did not deter him and slashed him down in a second, however it did not mean it did not hurt. Younger Kagura noticed first and called out to him with lingering concern.

“I’m fine” he grunted, “Don’t mind me, this is nothing.”

She reluctantly nodded and followed the other two who went ahead. Gintoki trailed behind them, pressing his hand against wound, attempting to stop the bleeding. His _bokuto_ was twitching with his hand. The wound was prickling him but he kept on, not letting a simple scratch like that bother him and slow the party down.

More enemies sprung on them but they were ready.

“I thought you said this ship was built to fit minimal crew?! Does this look like minimal to you?!” Gintoki grumbled, as he pounded his _bokuto_ on his enemy’s back.

“I said crew but not soldiers!” Umibouzu retorted, elbowing an enemy behind him and punching another in front of him.

“Why would a combat ship like this need too many soldiers?!” Gintoki retorted. “This bastard’s brought an entire army with him!”

“If you guys are done complaining, perhaps we could get going?”

As the floor was littered with their enemies, they ran. Alarms were raised and lights flickered red. They veered left and right, going through the corridors, avoiding confrontation as much as possible. Future Kagura led them and found themselves at the end of the hallway where a large bay encircled them. Soon enough, officers gathered around, pointing their guns and tipping their swords up against them.

Covering each other’s back, the party formed a circle and scanned their enemies one by one. By sheer number alone, they were beaten, but they never bothered with numbers before. Their weaponry was various, from long to melee range. There was no guarantee that they would come out of this battle unscathed. As the seconds passed by ever so slowly, they remained still, waiting for the moment their enemies pounce on them instead.

It never came. Everything was in a standstill.

“Ah… I see you alien hunters are still together” a voice emerged from the crowd of Shinra and various other Amanto.

“Barai…”

“Shocking really… you were on our side then” he spoke.

The admiral stepped forward, “In the future, you were our allies” he said, “But now Konjuku’s got you fighting a losing battle, I see.”

“I never considered you as an ally… you were a pain in the ass, instead.”

Barai showed genuine astonishment. “My, my… it seems like I wasn’t the only one who got sucked into the past” he chuckled, “Kagura-sama, you got swallowed by the black hole too?”

“Ain’t that obvious, you freak?”

“This must be the present you then” his scrutinizing eyes flickered, going over the present time’s Kagura, “It seems as though your breasts are a tad bit flaccid than your present’s—and you have wider hips as well—gave birth, I presume?”

“PERVERT!” screamed the younger Kagura.

“That man is a perverted fucktard—in search for a damned sugar baby” huffed the older Kagura.

“That’s hurtful” he replied with a fake gasp, “I admit, I checked you out a couple of times but your younger self is obviously more youthful—like a newly blossomed flower.”

“And apparently, a lolicon” she grunted.

Of course, the two other men in their party were enraged. “Oi, oi!” Grumbled Gintoki, “If your perverted eyes ever so much as glance at Kagura, I will personally stab you in the eyes, you fucktard!”

“If you try so much as lay a finger on her hair, I will skin you alive and skewer you, bastard!” Yelled Umibouzu.

This brought the Amanto surrounding them to charge ahead, but Barai held his hand out in time, halting them. He simply smirked viciously, eyeing the two versions of the same woman before him. “It seems as though you now know of what the Union really wants” he said, “Kromos was already a doomed planet, I just delivered it sooner.”

“I doubt that the Union took it kindly” replied future Kagura.

Barai laughed. “They were unhappy but I simply told them that it was for the sake of our future” he admitted. “But the man that I wished to destroy was not there—he and his crew escaped using one of my ships so of course, I needed to finish my job and hunt him down here”

“When the galaxy receives word that the Union has created a planet killer, I doubt they would let this through.”

“Then let them” Barai piped, his amethyst eyes gleaming. “I never really liked the fact that the Union is purposely hiding our intentions… we have already amassed a great fleet that could topple entire civilizations. They insist on hiding the planet killer under the records, but I say we put them to good use and Kromos was the very best example I could give”

“Fucking bastard” present Kagura gritted.

“The Union was angry but I don’t care” he sneered. “I want war—I want to show the universe how powerful the Union is, besides, war will come sooner or later anyway—you’ve been to the future, Kagura-sama… you’ve seen want Konjuku has done.”

“I’ve seen it—I was captured on his ship, remember?” Kagura spat venomously.

“Then you should understand why Kromos had to go” Barai replied, “We’re preventing a future where the Union does not die, where trillions of lives do not die.”

“And yet you crave of war” she retorted. “You’re no different from that son of a bitch”

His smirk immediately faltered and turned into a scowl. “Kill them” he merely said and promptly left the room.

* * *

“I’m listening.”

Nobume backed away from him.

Without preamble, “you’re after the wrong guy” Shinpachi said.

The woman remained wordless, but Shinpachi could feel the confusion emitting from the woman.

“Whoever that was that you negotiated with, he’s the actual enemy” Shinpachi continued. “He’s from the Union, the same organization that blew up Konjuku-san’s home planet. He barely survived, with his crew, and he’s doing everything he can to save them but the Union will not let him”

“How certain are you?” Nobume asked. “For all we know, you are being played into the enemy’s hands”

Shinpachi detached his gaze, readjusting his slipping glasses, “I am most certain” he merely said.

Scrunching her face in annoyance, Nobume started to leave, “I have my orders from the prime minister” she replied. “Criminal or not, if he is not to be found in twelve hours, then, that bastard admiral will rummage this land by himself and I won’t let that happen.”

Hastily, the young man chased Nobume. “Oi! Don’t act as if you don’t believe in what I say” he yelped.

The woman could only sigh. “Like I said, Shinpachi, criminal or not, I will find him and give him to that admiral” she said. “Their fight is beyond our jurisdiction and I simply wish that our planet is to be left in peace.”

“You don’t understand, Nobum—"

Retrieving her katana, she turned around and swung before her blade met with Shinpachi’s. Her crimson eyes were dead serious and a dangerous aura filed around her. The young man simply gritted and retracted his blade away from her, “I won’t let Earth be rummaged by those Union bastards but I also won’t let you find Konjuku-san if you plan to just give him to them.”

“You said it yourself, this man has the power to blow up an entire planet… if we don’t abide his wishes, this planet might be next” she replied, tipping her katana up, before Shinpachi’s eyes.

With a careful swing from his _bokuto,_ Shinpachi shoved the blade away from his face. “Please listen, Nobume-san” he implored but the woman only tipped her sword against his face once more, making him stop abruptly.

Nobume only squinted her eyes, glaring at the young man who dared stopped her. It was not as if she was acting out of spite or distrust. She knew that Shinpachi would never come here and insist on making her listen if there was not any truth to his words—better yet, she knows fully well that the Yorozuya never did things half-heartedly or let themselves be played by the enemies’ hands. But as she calculated the limited options they had, both of them had dire consequences that ends up in disaster. It was better to go for the option wherein Earth is not on the sharp end of the blade.

“Twelve hours, Shinpachi” she reminded, retracting the blade, “I have no time to deal with this.”

She continued to walk away.

“What if we could extend those hours?” He proposed.

Nobume stopped and seemed to ponder about it. “What do you mean?” She asked, raising a brow.

“The rest of us are currently putting a stop to this fight, by force, as usual” he replied. “Those crazy idiots are taking the situation into their own hands.”

The woman casted a mere sideways glance at Shinpachi. “If they’re planning on infiltrating that ship then, they should be careful” Nobume said. “Their admiral and crew are mostly composed of Shinra.”

“We have three crazy Yatos and the Shiroyasha, that’ll be enough” Shinpachi replied. “My fight will be down here with you guys.”

This perked Nobume’s curiosity. Although she wanted to believe and follow Shinpachi’s plan, she just simply can’t. However, if she was not mistaken, if Umibouzu is personally handling the situation, then maybe, just maybe, there is a slight chance. Her eyes shifted elsewhere.

“What makes you think you will be fighting alongside us? Your intentions are different with ours.”

“Should’ve worded that better” Shinpachi berated himself. “I won’t be fighting alongside… I’ll be fighting you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the end of a scabbard was met with his torso. Immediately, his hands caught the scabbard and forcefully pried it off. He looked up to see Nobume, looking impassive. Shinpachi spun out of the way and kicked the scabbard down to the ground. His foot planted on the scabbard and his hands were on the hilt of her katana. Sadaharu immediately pounced at Nobume and she landed on the ground with a loud thud. Immediately, the giant mutt pinned her arms and sat on her lower body to prevent her from escaping.

“If I can’t have you to cooperate then I can’t have you find Konjuku-san” he said, “This will be my mission.”

Nobume glared towards Shinpachi.

“I’m sorry about this, Nobume-san… really, I’m very sorry” he said apologetically, “Sadaharu, watch her for me, will you?”

Shinpachi only sidestepped and walked past her, grabbing her katana in the process, “Whether or not that man is stopped, Earth might as well be their next target” he said, “A hundred planets versus one? We don’t stand a chance, I know, but this one ship above us is not part of that union.”

“I’m not saying that I don’t trust you, but give me assurance that this will not escalate with the Earth bearing the whole Union’s red flag.”

“To be honest, I’m not all for fighting an entire organization” he said, “I’m just here to help a man save his crew and escape… the rest will be up to them.”

“And yet, you are fighting this union in the process.”

He stilled for a short moment before he continued walking away. Nobume simply watched. Sadaharu’s weight was not exactly a joke and before long, she felt her limbs getting number. Although she despised that admiral above, she could not refuse. She might have believed every word but she could not follow. Suddenly, Nobume was right back at where she started.

“The Shinsengumi has the downed ship barricaded but they can’t get close enough because of the radiation leak” she explained. “If the crew are there then, rescue would prove difficult, especially if that massive ship on our atmosphere would be likely to keep tabs on that ship… the best I could is to have them scour the ship and save the surviving crew in a guise of arresting them, that is, if they don’t decide to attack first.”

Shinpachi stopped once more. “They won’t attack” he simply reassured, “Konjuku-san will be there and he’ll take on the Shinsengumi himself if it’s to save his crew.”

“What if the Union interferes?”

“Trust those insane idiots up there to do their job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, leave a kudos or a review 'cuz it helps. Criticism is also welcomed. I feel like I haven't got my grammar correct.  
> Updates on Friday.


	12. Never trust yourself to do something worthwhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been more than a month since I first published this story? Damn...

> _Never trust yourself to do something worthwhile._

* * *

“Prime Minister—this is bad news.”

Soyo craned her head immediately to the source. “Satellite footage shows that they have just dispatched a few of their ships and they’re headed towards Edo,” continued the voice.

Returning her gaze back into the screen, the video footage showed exactly what the officer reported. Her breath hitched. “C-Contact Admiral Barai, hurry” she stammered. “Hurry!”

Pressing some buttons, the official at her side worked over the control panel. Every second felt like prolonged agony, counting each and every one of them that had passed seemed ridiculous. Soyo was shaking uncontrollably but, she could not let it show. Gripping the cold console, a little tighter than intended, she breathed deeply. A few painful moments later, the large screen showed the admiral, his expression clearly irked. _“What is it now, Prime Minister?”_

“Didn’t we agree that you’ll hold off your ships until the twelve-hour time period was over?” Her voice was hostile, venomous but undeniably panicked.

_“We did, but I sent my ships down there for a different purpose,”_ he replied.

“What other purpose?” She hissed through gritted teeth.

_“My crew will go down there and scour the ship and retrieve the remaining Krimons hiding inside.”_

Pupils dilated, in shock, Soyo stilled for a moment. “W-With that big of a crash, no one could have survived,” she reasoned.

_“Our scanners have picked up signs of life forms inside, weak but it’s there,”_ Barai replied. _“Now, prime minister, I see you have barricaded the crash site with your own forces. Now do what I ask and get your men out of the way and let mine do as tasked.”_

“Let my own men help you in your search.”

_“Please,”_ the admiral scoffed. _“You can’t even guarantee the safety of your own men. That radiation leak will kill them if they stay long inside but mine won’t. We have the gear, the resistance and we know that ship more than anyone else.”_

The admiral was right. She wanted to curse for her plan backfired. The prime minister knew she cannot hold them off their land any longer. As much as she wanted to keep everything safe and untouched, trouble emitted in the form of a downed ship, leaking radiation into the ocean and a loose war criminal. The Union had the upper hand this time. Bending her head low, the prime minister nodded, rather reluctantly. The admiral smirked in reply, _“very well then, prime minister,”_ he said. _“Still, it stands… I will not turn anything upside down so as long as you hold up your end of the deal—"_

All of a sudden, the screen was covered in white and a loud explosion broadcasted around the room. Soyo and the rest of the people inside gaped at the screen horrifyingly. Skeins of white and grey filled the screen while screams blared from the speakers. Gunshots ricocheted, followed by the symphony of smashes and buzzes.

When the smoke slowly dispersed, Soyo could see the remnants of bodies sprawled on the floor, the devastation of the room and three figures currently standing amidst it all.

* * *

“This is bad.”

Alighting his tenth cigarette since they were dispatched, Hijikata huffed out the calming smoke out his mouth. “What’s bad?” he asked, shifting his gaze towards their chief.

“I haven’t had any good screen time since the start of this story,” he hummed after. “And now with only a few chapters left, I really should make the best of it.”

Hijikata felt like facepalming but refrained so, out of courtesy. Indeed, Kondo Isao did not have any good amount of screen time other than his pathetic debut to this story which lasted with only a paragraph. If it’s any consolation, the author apologizes sincerely. Although, Hijikata himself had a pathetic debut and yet, he did not even complain. The man simply sighed instead. “Look Kondo-san, if it makes you feel any better, you can make the most of your remaining screen time right now.”

The chief scoffed, “Toshi… I don’t have time to grovel like a whining schoolboy,” he said. “A true man must always accept what is given to him, without any complaints—”

“Weren’t you just complaining about it a second ago?”

“—yes… a man must always accept his role with great pride and honor,” he continued, unfazed of Hijikata’s criticism. “It now rests on him on how great he shall fulfill the role he’s given, so that even if he fills the pages for a minimal time, he will be imprinted on people’s minds forever.”

“I accept the great speech but do we really have to do this now?” Hijikata deadpanned, inserting his hands in his pockets.

“Toshi—I know we’ve been given lame entrances but we will have a grand exit,” Kondo said, facing Hijikata with a proud smile, “I’ll make sure of it.”

_And honestly, I don’t really care but then again,_ Hijikata eyed the man and felt his deep russet orbs prod into his soul. He could only sigh, a thick cloud of smoke fluttered around his head. “Whatever you say, Kondo-san,” he replied.

However, thinking about it, the chief did have a great point, Hijikata hummed quietly.

Even after six years, that long scar on the chief’s face still haunts him. Even if the man assured him that it was okay, it was a horrid reminder of their history, a pain that they could never alleviate, the greatest burden that he had ever shouldered. Yet, the man before him only smiled at him during that time and simply told him to look at it on the bright side. It was the testimony of their strength, the majestic crown bestowed to him as the chief—a notary of their legacy. Of course, he sometimes gushed how cool he looked with it, ignoring the horrendous side effects of it.

Kondo Isao preached that scars are every man’s crowning glory. He might as well start a foundation and advocate it all around Edo—then again, he does not need any more ideas.

Hijikata hated looking at it, but he was forced to, every goddamned day. He remembered how it happened, as if it were yesterday but he did not want the demons to come thrashing in his every waking moment.

Right now, the scar remains, ever polished, like the great man before him.

At that moment, muffled yelling was heard from the outside and the screen buzzed. Hijikata and Kondo peered up and saw bright and flashing red.

“What the heck is happening?” Hijikata grumbled.

“Chief, Vice-Chief—ships approaching and it’s not any of ours,” reported a familiar high-pitched voice.

Hastily, the two officers exited the room and rushed through the passageways and went up on the deck. What greeted them were various officers, baffled and frozen on their places. Hijikata immediately glared at them for being so feeble but curiosity had eaten him then and there. He craned his neck to see for himself what they were looking at.

The sky was filled with nothing but dim, lights flickered from every corner, Hijikata could not make out every figure but out of the horizon came the silhouettes of three large vessels approaching theirs.

“What the hell..?”

“Toshi, you stand guard in here, do not make a move unless they make it first.”

“What are you gonna do, Kondo-san?” Hijikata asked, alarmed.

“Relax, I’m just gonna go set up a conversation with them,” Kondo replied, disappearing amidst the gathering crowd.

“Dammit,” muttered Hijikata, biting his cigarette stick a little too hard.

* * *

His heart throbbed a little louder, a little stronger. It was not the pleasing feeling of love but rather it was fucking dread—he, especially, knows the difference of every thump of the heart.

Down below deck, he went. Through the passageways, he looked on, feeling suffocated. Everything felt narrower. The floor felt like it was quivering. He studied those three vessels enough to know instinctively that they were hopelessly outgunned. His legs hurried and took him back to the bridge, excusing himself from his confounded subordinates. As he stepped inside, his breath hitched. Another deep breath, he blamed the it on the lingering smell of nicotine. He walked up to the panels with eyes set on the goal which was the visual screen.

He casted a sideways glance at the officer on controls. “Contact them,” he said.

“Yes, Chief,” he replied, flicking through the switches and typing codes.

Everything about those three vessels just screamed imminent danger. Something tugged at him, like an old phantom pain, like an old memory and suddenly, everything in his body churned. He was at a moment’s whim, and his sight was clouded and disorientated, like a fleeting vision, a knock on the head. He kept telling himself not to be afraid but, he was not sure where to place his damned fear. Surely, he faced something like this before, probably even worse, but there was something that settled uncomfortably with him. Everything on those ships were uniform and uncanny but commanded its supremacy and indicated its absolute power.

With everything he has, right on the frontline, he did not want to risk it. This is what he had always feared.

Kondo knew—he had to settle this with the only option viable for them.

“They’re not responding, sir,” was the horrid reply of his subordinate.

Why is it that with great power comes great arrogance? The problem with every one of their opponents was their tendency to ignore and underestimate the other side. He hated this.

“Zaki, I need you to keep at it,” was the command of the chief before he turned to the other officers, “Contact the other ships, we need to form a blockade—”

“Chief, the prime minister is hailing us,” said Yamazaki.

In his peripheral vision, the rest of the officers inside the bridge were pressing buttons and flipping tiny switches. The helmsman uttered a few incomprehensible words and under him, the floor shifted and everything around him felt like moving. Above him, the faint noise of the hubbub above deck thudded.

“On screen.”

Clutching the backrest, Kondo steadied himself.

* * *

Specifically, the vessel in the middle was foremost than the other two.

The command ship, it seemed, Hijikata deduced.

It was the eleventh cigarette for that night and his packet was half empty. Pocketing his mayo lighter inside his coat, he released a thick cloud of smoke. Out on the edge of the hull, he stood upright. Everything was moving slowly.

Behind him, he could sense that the two other ships of their own moved also. He released a trail of smoke into the air, sighing considerably. “Forming a blockade, huh?” he muttered.

After so many years that he had spent with the chief, he knew, like every inch of his blade, every single one of those expressions he had on his face. Nothing could escape his trained eyes. He could always tell what he was feeling, what he wanted to say, what he wanted to do. It was not as if he would always study the man but, he was like an open book that he thoroughly memorized. Before parting with him, those eyes told him what he exactly had deduced from those ships—sheer danger.

The task given to him was simple enough: to remain silent but ready. The communicator in his other hand kept awaiting and reserved. His words were the only thing stopping them from striking the approaching hazard first.

As they inched closer, their stature became increasingly larger, at least almost twice the size of their own vessels. He hated to think that the ship outside their atmosphere is actually even larger and seemingly undefeated.

His heart pounded a little louder against his chest and yet, his resolve is unfazed. Hijikata began to doubt this Union the moment the orders were given but now, he knew he had been right all along.

In this silence in the dead of the night, footsteps echoed evidently in his buzzing ears. He already knew whose footsteps they were. He had commandeered his men long enough to recognize even the sound of their movements.

Captain Shimaru Saito of the Third Division stood alongside him with his arms crossed, silent as always, but earned reverence among his colleagues. He looked on, scrutinizing those three vessels with his own crimson eyes. Hijikata knew that the man was thinking the same as he did. He did not become their best internal investigator officer without good reason.

“Every goddamned chance that bad guys coming running loose, they always go to Earth,” Hijikata muttered.

The silent captain closed his eyes, inwardly agreeing with the vice chief’s statement. He also had his fair share of intergalactic battles with them. One that could at least last a lifetime. Earth was a gleaming blue beacon where moths and other insects come flocking but ultimately gets destroyed still, the light was the light and they just cannot resist.

Their vessel stopped moving. Hijikata looked over to see that the three vessels of the Shinsengumi had aligned and faced towards the three larger approaching Amanto vessels. With the blockade already formed, what only waits was their Chief’s orders. However, despite everything they did, it continued to vex him that the Amanto vessels did not show any sign of stopping. Hijikata had already stopping counting the minutes and entrusted everything to the chief but he could not help but wonder what the heck was happening.

Mere meters away, Hijikata craned his neck up to come face to face with its bulk hull. With his eleventh cigarette consumed, the sight before him implored that he should take another one, just to calm his wits. _Just who the fuck are these people?_

Unexpectedly, their tall deck was alit and engulfed in flames and the sound of explosions reverberated through the waters. Hot air blew into his face, extinguishing the flame from his lighter. Hijikata looked up, his cold blue eyes reflecting hot, red flames. Saito looked just as shocked as he was, his arms loosening and clutching the hilt of his katana.

Faintly, they could hear yelling and swords clashing form their flaming deck. Gunshots echoed loudly but more explosions followed. The communicator on his hand buzzed, _“Toshi!”_ Called the voice.

Bringing the comms up to his lips, “Kondo-san… before anything else, that explosion is not our fault,” he said.

_“I could not contact them,”_ replied Kondo. _“But the prime minister called… the mission’s changed”_

Parting his gaze from the stream of ongoing explosions, Hijikata focused on the communicator. _“Our mission is to protect that downed ship… apparently, the Union almost had us succeed into helping them annihilating an entire Amanto race.”_

_What the fuck?_ “Kondo-san… what’s left in that ship?” he asked.

_“The survivors… Konjuku’s crew,”_ he replied. _“The Yorozuya and Umibouzu had been on the Union’s trail all along and uncovered their ill intentions just in time…”_

Hijikata felt like sighing, _of course, the Yorozuya was just conveniently on their trail the whole time._ “We can’t get near that ship without being exposed to unknown radiation,” he replied. “Besides, we can’t access a ship that’s half submerged in water, we don’t know its interiors or an idea where the crew is hiding, if they even survived.”

_“That’s why we have to protect the downed ship,”_ Kondo replied. _“But I see someone had already beaten you to it.”_

“All the more reason to permeate that ship,” Hijikata grunted.

_“I’ll commandeer down here for the moment,”_ said Kondo. _“Meanwhile, I trust you and the three divisions with you to take on that flagship—I’ll join you as soon as the prime minister finished assessing the situation.”_

“Got it, Kondo-san.”

The connection ended.

Swiftly, the vice chief turned to his men whom have gathered on deck, awaiting his orders. “Listen up here, we’re gonna infiltrate that damned ship and find out what’s going on,” he bellowed. “The mission’s changed—we’re protecting that downed ship… if even one of their men gets past this blockade, I’ll make you all commit _seppuku._ ”

As if on cue, the ship levelled up and they were face to face with the deck. As expected from the gravity of the explosions, everything was in chaos and utterly destroyed. Bodies were sprawled all over the deck, various Amanto of different shapes and sizes with the same penetrating marks on their bodies. Blood was mercilessly spilled everywhere, engulfed by the smoldering flames. Suddenly, Hijikata had a faint idea on who could cause such ruckus.

Crossing the decks with a plank, they entered the enemy vessel.

He could hear the raging battle cries and clashing weapons from the other vessels, but in particular, this one was quiet and stripped off of soldiers. Hijikata casted a sideways glance to his men. “Go help the other divisions,” he said. “Something is particularly off with this ship… I’ll investigate by myself.”

Saito looked like he wanted to protest but Hijikata’s cold piercing gaze coerced him to silently follow. “If our suspicions are correct, that fucker will more likely to kill all of us in an instant,” he said lowly as Saito could only hear. “At least, if one of us goes, we’ll suffer less casualties.”

The captain nodded. Of course, he knew as well as the vice chief. Hastily, the men behind him dispersed and joined the battle on the two other ships. Unsheathing his katana, Hijikata walked across the destroyed deck measuredly, studying the slowly burning bodies of Amanto around him. The entrance before him was opened and seemed like it was already ransacked. Hijikata’s cold blue eyes grew more curious and carefully, he entered the dark chamber.

More dead bodies surrounded him. Suddenly, he felt as if he was caught in another terrorism attack by the Joui Rebels. The stench was unbearable but unlike anything he had not faced in the past. As he threaded deeper into the chambers, it became increasingly brighter. The low scarlet lights around him was replaced by ashy white and he got a good view of what surrounded him.

Before he could take another step into the bright white, a figure came pouncing at him, sword raised and ready to swing. Blocking with his own blade, he noticed the familiar olive orbs, the irritatingly familiar long raven locks and the drenched _yukata._ Recoiling back, he noticed that his blade had been cracked by the violent assault and that his attacker was preparing another attack.

“Oi—what the hell?” He hissed through gritted teeth, “you wanna be a criminal again?”

But he was unheard as the figure lurched forward and swung his blade. Hijikata felt it as soon as their blades made contact. The opponent in front of him was not in his right mind and was slowly losing consciousness. His attacks were heavy and his swings were uncontrolled.

Swinging the blunt side of his blade, his opponent collided with the wall. Immediately grabbing his neck with one hand and his sword tipped up against his chest in the other, Hijikata had his opponent pinned and defeated. “Oi, Katsura, get your head out of the gutter,” he grunted.

Katsura’s eyes fluttered open slowly, “I-I won’t let you… g-get to K-Konjuku-san…” he faltered.

“We’re not after him,” was Hijikata’s reply. “The Yorozuya had interfered in time, we’re protecting that downed ship.”

Katsura flashed a lazy smile, “K-Konjuku’s still in there, w-with Elizabeth…” he muttered. “They’re getting the crew out to safety… but I’m afraid they don’t have much time… the radiation is…”

“Oi, Katsura.”

“I-I apologize… I was exposed to the radiation too,” he grunted out hoarsely, “I’m afraid t-this is as f-far as I g-go…”

Retracting the blade and sheathing it back in his scabbard as quickly as he could, Hijikata pulled Katsura and slung his arm over his shoulders. Katsura lazily sheathed his katana back into his scabbard and let his body lean onto the police officer. Slowly, they began trekking back the way they came.

Grabbing his communicator from his side, Hijikata pressed the button on the side. “Kondo-san,” he called.

_“Toshi—what is it?”_

“Change in developments… I’m bringing Katsura down to the ship, he’s been heavily radiated and needs medical attention, the crew and that Konjuku is on that ship but they won’t last long, we have to get them out as fast as you—”

Above them, the overhead exploded. Debris began to fall on their heads and smoke obscured their visions. Hijikata shuffled back to avoid the impact as much as he could but still, he got caught up in the explosion. Both him and Katsura were on the floor, buried under a heaping pile of debris. Unfortunately for him, Katsura had lost all consciousness from the fall, no matter how violently he shook the guy awake. He hissed, grunted and cursed. Shifting his eyes everywhere, he tried finding a chance to escape.

“Now, now,” said a muffled voice. “After bringing the party to us, you had the gall to escape just like that?”

_“Toshi! Toshi!”_ The garbled voice of Kondo rung in Hijikata’s ears.

As the smoke continued to file around him, Hijikata used this as an opportunity to crawl out. Dragging the unconscious Katsura on his back, he staggered up and through the field of debris.

“There you are,” said the voice.

Dropping Katsura and retrieving his blade in an instant, Hijikata pivoted his body around and blocked the blade coming at him. Gritting his teeth, the powerful strike had jolted his whole body. Shoving the attacker off with his left strength, Hijikata immediately grabbed Katsura and attempted to throw him across the room, out of danger’s way.

Their blades clashed, through the brimming fire and smoke. The overhead was blown off and the darkened sky appeared amidst the smoke. Suddenly, lightning from the sky roared and thunder rumbled. Skies of smoke and fire bristled with gushing rain. The first storm of the summer.

Hijikata slashed through but his blade was only met with a torn cloak. Behind him, the tall figure in white swung his blade down but Hijikata managed to sidestep to avoid it in time. Rolling away, Hijikata lurched forward, his feet aimed at the exit. He had already enough glimpses of his enemy to know that the damned Amanto is a member of one of the most powerful clans in the universe. Clad in a white admiral’s suit and donning a sword like his own told him that this man was a Shinra.

“Dammit… Katsura, wake up, you fucker!” Hijikata gritted as his opponent’s blade met with his once more.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Blow after blow, Hijikata continued to evade each attack with his sword. The rain had finally extinguished the flames and his cold metallic blue eyes came face to face with amethyst ones. Swinging his sword, Hijikata finally took the offensive when he spotted the opportunity and his opponent had staggered back in defense. Kicking his torso for good measure, the Shinra clansman somersaulted to prevent himself from falling pathetically and disappeared from Hijikata’s eyes in an instant.

“What the..?” From the side, the enemy’s blade was going to strike. Hijikata blocked with his katana in time however, the powerful attack had his sword cracking and slowly crumbling. The man knew he had to move away before his blade break completely.

It was a good thing that the man pulled out a gun from his holster and fired a shot. Hijikata evaded easily and withdrew from his opponent with enough distance. He was rushing to Katsura to retrieve his sword. The Shinra behind him was chasing after him with his incomparable speed. The police officer crouched down and pulled Katsura’s blade out of his scabbard just in time for both swords to clash once more.

With blades ending up each other’s throats, both of them were at a standstill. As his metallic blue met with amethyst once more. “Just who the fuck are you?” he asked coldly.

“Admiral Barai,” he answered promptly. “You are formidable, I give you that.”

“Toshi!” Called a voice.

The Shinra pulled away from Hijikata and pivoted his body around to block another attack aimed at him. “Now who are you?” the Shinra asked, his amethyst meeting with gruff russet orbs.

Recoiling back before Hijikata could even attack at his behind. Admiral Barai eyed his opponents gravely. Through the raindrops and the dim night, their dark figures were almost bleary. The battle, he thought, has become very bleak.

“Seems like you could not be fooled,” he said. “You actually know now what our intentions are.”

“Kondo-san, I could handle this,” Hijikata said, raising his katana. “Take Katsura and go”

“I knew you’d say that, Toshi,” Kondo chuckled heartily. “That’s why I brought Yamazaki along.”

Turning towards the Shinra clansman, “I received info that you had blown up an entire planet just to extract revenge,” Kondo roared. “Your deeds will not go undiscovered—your Union will be judged by the entire galaxy.”

Admiral Barai sighed. “You’re talking to the wrong Barai,” he said. “But anyway, whether or not it was me, it does not matter, I’m not letting these Krimons out of my sight.”

“Kondo-san, the crew—!”

A loud sound rumbled through the skies. It was not thunder nor lightning. Kondo glanced up and was met with large grey gliding above them, the keel of a familiar ship. He had a proud smirk on his face. Meanwhile, Hijikata was surprised, “Mimawarigumi?!”

“Nobume-san and the Mimawarigumi will handle the downed ship and the crew,” Kondo said. “Meanwhile, us Shinsengumi will fend off these pests here from reaching them.”

Hijikata scoffed. The rain, once more, poured down on them. He shifted his gaze back to Barai who was waiting still. “They always leave us with these dirty jobs,” he grumbled. Attack stances ready, Hijikata and Kondo charged at the Shinra clansman.

Lightning struck once more, the sounds of explosions continued to reverberate, swords clashed and battle cries were heard. The rain, unrelenting and unmerciful, rattled against them and light flashed before their eyes. Admiral Barai, with one sword and a gun, retaliates against two measly police officers with plucky attitudes. Kondo charged forward and struck another blow while Hijikata takes an opportunity on the back. Leaping up and twisted his body, he fired a trail of gunshots. Kondo and Hijikata deflected with their blades and lurched forward, their blades meeting with his.

Agile and swift, Barai’s blade collided with both his opponents’, switching opponents easily as he shoved them off. Kondo and Hijikata kept coming back with stronger hits but the Shinra had already read their moves and calculated their trajectories, dodging all of their attacks effortlessly.

“You’re both formidable, I see,” he remarked, kicking Hijikata in the torso as his blade parried Kondo’s.

“It ain’t a joke that the Shinra are considered one of the strongest of the universe,” Kondo replied. “I’ve always thought you were just powerful because of your influence.”

“Underestimating us, I see,” Barai smirked, landing a swift blow on the man’s side.

The other police officer followed another attack. Their swords danced for a moment, exchanging blows before Kondo lunged again. Sidestepping to avoid the blade, he kicked upwards, knocking Kondo’s katana in the process. Hijikata followed after the Shinra but was abruptly stopped by a gunshot at his direction. Landing successfully, the Shinra lunged forward with his blade on one hand and a gun on the other.

Recovering his katana, Kondo attempted to impale his opponent from the side while Hijikata covered the front. Moving a few inches forward, he fired a single gunshot at Kondo’s direction, he managed to graze the man’s arm. As he somersaulted backwards, his feet came in contact with Hijikata’s chin, impeding his initial attack. Landing on his feet a few meters away, he watched as his enemies were crouched on the floor, reeling in pain.

“Kondo-san!”

“No, I’m fine Toshi,” he replied. “It was just a graze—don’t let me distract you.”

Hijikata was beyond pissed and Kondo was clamped together. Clutching his blade once more, Hijikata lunged and the Shinra met him halfway.

“Now, this became a little personal,” Barai chuckled.

* * *

Clutching his wounded side, Gintoki heaved pained and ragged breaths. His white kimono, the best one he had, was tattered and stained with so much blood. There was nothing saving his current set of clothes and he knew he would have to throw it out and buy another one of the same design. He grunted and moaned as he forced to straighten himself.

Surrounded him was a pile of bodies—he did not know whether they were still alive or not, though. The room was filled with the stench of blood and gunpowder and it was taking every bit of Gintoki’s left strength not to hurl. He had cut down Amanto numerous times before but the stench of it in this cramped ship made him awfully uncomfortable.

The corridor behind him remained clean and silent and the corridor in front of him was dirty and eerily silent.

Using his _bokuto_ and a sword he managed to swindle from one of the limp bodies, he had been fending the passageway from the oncoming Amanto. His companions were hesitant to leave him alone but he knew the three of them were much needed elsewhere. Besides, Gintoki faced worse than this and he had survived all of them—even if he was worst in show for it. Dropping the metal blade on the cold floor, he wiped the blood pooling in his face and clouding his senses. Gintoki tilted his head up and release a pained sigh.

Steadying himself using the wooden blade, Gintoki walked through the passageway groggily. Casting one last look on the filthy corridor, now behind him, he doubted that more Amanto would come this way. Considering the heaping pile of bodies he had already disposed, there was no way more would still come. With that thought, he knew he had already done enough.

With his hand on the walls, blood trailed from his fingertips. He hated admitting it but the Amanto had landed good blows at him, resulting to multiple contusions, long cuts and gnashes all over his body and possibly a concussion. Gintoki could not collapse now, he could not possibly think about resting one bit. He wanted to see this damned mission through and send the older Kagura back home without any regrets and worries on her ugly grown-up face.

The floor shook and he was swept off balance. Gintoki landed with his wounded arm meeting the cold floor first. He yelped in pain and his body spasmed. He sensed his silver hair and white kimono all the more drenched in blood from his wounds. Gintoki cursed and woozily got up, but another tremor sent him colliding headfirst on the floor once more.

“What the hell now?” He grumbled.

Hastily pushing himself off the floor, he forced himself to sprint through the passageway. It did not take long before he found a large porthole. He peered, shifting his eyes through every corner where his eyes could reach.

At long last, his dead eyes was stirred. There was a feeling that was not there for the longest time.

Out in the distance of no horizons, the distant stars were obscured, the moon hid itself as a large silhouette hovered above them. His breath hitched.

Another Union warship had just arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, leave a kudos or a review... 'cuz it helps. Criticisms are welcomed as well.  
> Updates again of Tuesday next week. Stay tuned~


	13. Falling stars were never appealing rather, it's a sign that you should make a run for it.

> _Falling stars were never appealing rather, it's a sign that you should make a run for it._

* * *

_Just one more,_ echoed in Hijikata’s mind.

He spat out some more blood and panted. He watched as his great chief, Kondo, attempt another strike at their foe. However, Barai had more strength and endurance to spare and managed to shift the tides with Kondo on the defensive. Hijikata begged his body to move but the long gash across his stomach was prickling too much. Normally, he would not let himself be bothered with this mere wound but the fact that fatigue and major blood loss was catching up to him rendered him almost useless in this goddamned fight.

He hated admitting it but, there are some enemies that are a bit too hard to beat. This particular Shinra maybe one of those people. Hijikata hated the feeling of defeat more than anything else, he would rather commit _seppuku_ than admit defeat to an enemy. So, he forced himself to stand up, even if his battered legs were bleeding, even if his arms were quivering. He had to lift his sword. His trained eyes watched Kondo and Barai, finding an opportunity to strike. Lurching forward, he ignored the pain and let adrenaline take over once again.

Barai managed to evade his torso but his arm was impaled. Shouting out screams of pain, he dropped his gun subconsciously and fell to the ground. Before the Shinra could even slay him with his sword, Hijikata thrusted the blade deeper and swiftly swung, chopping off his arm in the process.

Bleeding severely and body jolting in intense pain, all Barai could do was meet the stone-cold eyes of blue.

* * *

Barai shook his head maniacally, laughing loudly through bleeding gums. Kagura pressed her heels further down his chest and planted the tip of her parasol onto his forehead. Her blood boiled immensely at the mere sight of the Amanto and it was taking every bit of strength to fight back the urge to kill him then and there.

Surrounding them, the bridge was almost reduced to smithereens, save for the controls of the helmsman and the visual screen. Umibouzu and present Kagura were currently going over the console, figuring out how they could pilot the ship to land back on Earth without any miscalculations.

It had been a big mistake to set the room on fire, therefore accidentally killing almost all of the crew inside. Barai was impressively resilient and managed to survive the explosion and the barrage to his crew and retaliated at the party all on his own. While he could not stand against the strength of three bloodthirsty Yato, he made up with his impressive speed and agility. Future Kagura indulged him quite fervently and dealt with him with her own personal grudges. Memories of how he pestered her during the past year (in their timeline) came flashing through her mind and all that pent-up rage enabled her to go all out without restrictions which ended with him pathetically falling on his knees, sputtering out blood and heaving in immense pain. His white admiral’s suit was drenched haphazardly with blood and grime, his blue skin sported multiple contusions and nasty gashes and his face was thoroughly busted—and that sent a satisfied smirk over Kagura’s features.

“You’re really lovelier when you’re dressed in the blood of your victims, Kagura-sama,” he chortled weakly. “A befitting decoration for a Yato.”

“Shut up, bastard,” she hissed.

Even if the Shinra looked worser than the cold corpses of his crew, the Yato herself, was not unscathed from the fight. Her forehead, her cheek and her arms were littered with cuts but it was nothing she could not handle. However, the splatter of blood all over her pale skin, her grey coat and vermillion hair made her satisfactorily enthralling in the eyes of the Shinra clansman.

“Come on, kill me,” he taunted, grabbing the tip of the parasol, “I’m all yours.”

“It’s disgusting when you say it like that,” she grumbled, pressing her combat boot deeper onto his chest.

Blood gushed out from his chest wound and he moaned in pain. Barai’s breaths were suffering and ragged, even his speech was so desperately forced. Kagura stopped as she saw the contorted look of anguish on her enemy’s face. She still wanted Barai alive, for the sole purpose of seeing this whole ordeal through and face judgment and punishment, even if she had to repress her sadistic desires for it.

_God, she was becoming like her damned husband._ Kagura scowled at the thought.

Through the stillness, all of the people inside the bridge heard a low alarm. Everything was as if time had suddenly stopped. Barai recognized that sound but before he could think about saying anything, the ship shook violently, knocking all of them off balance. The once low alarms screeched loudly and briskly, deafening their ears and sending their bodies to immediate panic. Cracks traced through the ceiling to the walls and chunks of debris had fallen over their heads. The low lights went from stable white to flashing red. Barai could barely flutter his eyes wide open but through his hazed vision, everything was falling tragically apart.

Though stumbling, Umibouzu scrambled to reach the console but was knocked off elsewhere when another furious tremor had hit the ship. Knocking his head on another panel, he tumbled unconsciously on the floor. The younger Kagura attempted to reach him but the crumbling overhead plummeted upon her, burying her alive in suffocating dust and debris. With the older Kagura nowhere to be seen, Barai struggled to get up, despite his injuries, and dragged himself to the helmsman’s console.

Fumbling through the console expertly, alerts sprung up on the visual screen. The reports had flooded him with great apprehension—the shaft was damaged and one of the engines were chopped off, it read. The ship is barely holding on at this point and Earth’s gravity, might as well, suck them in. Barai cursed loudly before another explosion had hit them and this time, he was knocked forward. He rapidly pressed through with the console and moments later, the visual changed and showed another massive ship that was heading towards them.

To his horror, he realized—it was the Union’s.

Barai was panicking. Why would his own organization fire at him and his ship? Certainly, their anger at him was very fixated but he is revered among the Board and is needed for his supremacy and intellect as one of the Shinra. According to him, he should even be exalted, for his knowledge of the future had changed this new timeline he was pulled in. _They needed him._ He cannot simply be disposed as trash like this.

Hailing the ship, he decided to confront whoever was in control of that fucking ship. It was his last resort to ensure survival, though he did not want to admit it. The next seconds ticked by agonizingly, Barai could barely maintain withstanding with his wobbling two feet. His injuries were severe and his strength was depleting. As a beacon of, what seemed to be, left hope, the screen before him dissolved into an image of a man—unrecognizable yet, familiar.

_“Hello,”_ he greeted with a jovial tone.

The man before him had flaming coral pink hair and pale skin. He was dressed in shades of black and grey with a parasol slung over his back. He was smiling nonchalantly and it annoyed Barai to no end. Everything about him, Barai was certain, pointed to a Yato.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Barked Barai. He instantly remembered that there were no Yato members in the Union, present or future.

_“You’re Admiral Barai, I hope.”_

“Why are you firing at this ship?!”

_“Should I really tell you about it? It’s quite a long story and I doubt you’d have time left to spare,”_ he replied enthusiastically. _“Your ship is about to fall to Earth and certainly, you will not survive—especially with those injuries.”_

He was teeming in anger. As he rummaged through the controls, he wanted to take any slim chance to retaliate but to his dismay, the ship’s weapon systems were down and he could not possibly steer the ship anymore. Hopelessly crumbling and threatening to fall apart, the ship’s crash course for Earth was set. Barai raked his eyes over the screen, coming face to face with the man that which is his doom. His face was void of any emotion than of glee—something which he had come to hate about youthful men.

Turning around, the man was about to cut the transmission, leaving a stunned Barai frozen in place.

“Kamui!” Shrieked Kagura’s voice from behind Barai.

Barai was forced out of his stupor upon hearing Kagura’s voice. The aforementioned woman clutched onto the console, shoving the injured Amanto onto the cold floor. She was glaring at the screen—at her damned brother. Kamui could not help but feel surprise, of course, it was washed away by that stupidly annoying jovial façade.

_“Oh, my dear sister—why are you there?”_ Asked Kamui.

_“O-Oi! Little missy, what are you doing in there?!”_ Chipped a panicked voice from the background.

“What the hell are you doing, you bastard?!” She screeched.

Flickering his eyes open, bright cerulean orbs flashed through the screen with intense grit, _“We came hunting for that bastard Barai”_ Kamui replied. _“Although it’s also a treat if you’re there… then I guess, present you and Baldy must be with you, right?”_

“K-Kamui!”

Umibouzu propped himself up from the floor. In seething anger and frustration, he limped his way to the console and steadied himself by clutching onto the mechanism, “Why the hell did you fire on this ship?!”

Jovial face gone, Kamui exhibited a genuine expression of astonishment. _“Hey now, I was just finishing my mission. Honestly, I didn’t know you guys were even there but I couldn’t care less,”_ he chuckled. _“It’s like killing two birds with one stone.”_

“You got my message, I see?” Umibouzu queried as he scanned his eyes on the screen.

“Your message?!” Kagura gaped.

_“You are growing very old and weak, bald geezer,”_ he huffed. _“They weren’t strong as you said them to be—you’ve really let me down.”_

Appalled, Kagura stomped her foot on the downed Shinra’s torso without care whatsoever. “Oi you stupid brother, what the heck did you do?” The woman demanded.

_“I simply made a visit to their starbase, is all,”_ replied Kamui, flailing his hand in a nonchalant manner. _“Their board of leaders were there too so it was a nice treat, at least”_

Kagura realized what he meant but was skeptical about it. She turned to her father, searching any signs that might say otherwise but was mortified to find him smirking towards the screen in return. “What the hell, you fucking retards?!” She shrieked. “Do you realize what you have just done?!”

_“Relax sister,”_ he said, _“I’m not so dumb as to set everything on fire—”_

“You could’ve!” She retorted condemningly. “Wait—I know you did!”

Kamui tried repressing a smile but he ended up snorting instead. _“Okay fine, maybe I did set some places on fire,”_ he admitted as if it was not considered a heinous crime. _“Nothing gets past you, little sis. You know I can’t help it.”_

A repulsed gaze popped up from behind Kamui. His gruff expression begged to agree with the crazed man’s sister.

Of course, Abuto would, half of the time, reluctantly abide with his captain’s activities but he had no choice. There was a reason Kamui is called their ‘Captain’. He could only watch as the damage had been done and felt like facepalming in the immeasurable stress he was feeling. Departing away from the quiet starbase, after massacring a rough estimation of ten thousand people of high status from the Union, Abuto kept telling himself that this was for the benefit of the universe and a step towards their goal and it had calmed him down to an extent. To realize that the father had concocted a plan using his son’s recklessness and power hunger, he could not help but have an entirely different view on the revered Umibouzu and their father-son dynamic. He was upholding his judgment that despite Kamui’s frustrations on his father, they are actually on “good” terms, as twisted it may be. He voiced it out a few times but he was only replied with a death threat—it was a good thing he was on Kamui’s good graces most of the time.

Abuto was actually, genuinely relieved that it was not just him who had been aghast to this situation.

_“… after I destroyed the main citadel tower, I targeted the starbase’ life support systems—the rest of the remaining Union might not suspect anything other than a failed infrastructure… we were sure not to leave any trace of us.”_

“Well Kamui, I guess you still have a use for me, you damn brat,” Umibouzu muttered almost proudly.

Admittingly, it was a huge gamble for Umibouzu to trust in his son’s mad thirst for power and defeating those with said power. It was a huge relief for him that it paid off even if his life was also currently endangered because of his son’s recklessness.

_“Well now, save your praises, bald geezer,”_ Kamui beamed. _“I haven’t finished my chores yet… I still have to clean up the remaining trash of the Union.”_

Before Umibouzu could even begin to decipher what his son meant, Kamui grinned ferally at them. _“Fire at that ship.”_

“W-Wait—Kamui!” Screeched Kagura, “you bastard, you’re gonna kill us!”

“Oi, oi Kamui! You damn brat!” Umibouzu yelled.

_“Are you serious, Captain?!”_ Abuto’s voice was also shocked. _“You’re gonna kill your whole damn family!”_

_“That’s the point now, fire at them.”_

From their limited view of the bridge on Kamui’s side, the helmsman was reluctant but proceeded to give the order. Shortly after, the ship trembled violently and a trail of loud outbursts could be heard. Kagura and Umibouzu shouted Kamui’s name repeatedly, followed by a string of curses and threats. All Kamui did to reply was smile—then, the transmission was cut.

Staring at a blank screen, the father and daughter realized that it was already hopelessly futile. They know that madman too much. Before they could even think up another death threat, another explosion was suffered and they fell backwards and was propelled, tumbling and rolling through the floor. Another warning flashed onto the screen and the alarms were at a faster pace than before. Beyond the symphony of cracks, alarms and explosions, choruses of cries and grunts could be heard. Nobody could open their eyes, nobody was spared from streaks of excruciating pain.

Everything was suddenly spinning and whirring noxiously.

* * *

The last of the remaining survivors were already on board and currently being treated. The hazardous radiation had affected all of them, even the rescuers. Still, the Mimawarigumi had done a marvelous job and considered the mission a success.

Through the portholes, every single one of them relished at the sight of daylight. Through flickering eyes and peaceful silence, the welcoming light had given them a flare of hope. A brand new and beautiful day awaited them and everyone donned a satisfied smile.

Shinpachi and Nobume were just outside the medical bay, watching as the last remaining survivors of Krimon were being sterilized from the radiation they were exposed to. Sighing, Shinpachi averted his gaze from the room and turned his heels, walking away silently. Sadaharu was waiting for him just down the hall, barking eagerly at his owner.

Dressed in the spare Mimawarigumi uniform they had conveniently lying around the ship, Shinpachi grew uncomfortable every time he made a move. Not because of the fabric (in his opinion, it was considerably much comfortable than when he wore the Shinsengumi’s years prior) but was because of the elite stature it emitted. He knew that the Mimawarigumi was the elite police force of the elite (and no, the redundant use of the word ‘elite’ was not enough to justify just how elite the said police force is) and he knew he was intruding in a shipload of it. This was not his place at all. Although white was Shinpachi’s grudging color, this particular shade and brightness of white was too much for him. He believed that he was never really meant to shine so bright (also figuratively speaking) and had accepted the simplest and humblest way of living, alongside the great shadows. He always believed that he belonged in a fairly decent apartment, in a traditional house, in a run-down dojo, in a shitty yet lively little town.

Shinpachi never wanted to lounge back at the Yorozuya or at his own bedroom and listen to Otsu-chan’s songs, spending a lazy day with no complaints all the more in his entire life.

The bespectacled man patted Sadaharu’s white fur and jokingly realized that they fitted the Mimawarigumi colors like anyone else. Everything in his line of vision was filled with glittering white and he was slowly getting tired of it. Shinpachi wanted nothing more than to stare at mahogany ceilings and ginger walls.

Long navy blue hair flipping over her shoulder, Nobume turned tail and walked, following after Shinpachi. Their job was already done and although she was reluctant to admit it, she was very tired. Leading an entire police force to rescue a supposed war criminal and his surviving crew from a downed ship took a toll on her stamina. Clad in a fresh set of clothes, her old ones were discarded after being exposed to radiation. The feeling of fresh and clean skin implored her to take a rest. Her pace was relaxed and slow, taking her time. She could not wait to spoil herself in donuts and catch a few winks.

Before she could even daydream about the boxes of donuts she was going to buy later that day, an officer came running towards them. Shinpachi, alert as ever, turned to Nobume and the officer with a curious gaze. The officer bore a panicked look and was unable to speak.

They waited patiently. Time was back at its normal pace for them but they could not deny that the panicked expression the officer had did not concern them also.

When the officer did finally speak, he has not even finished his report before Nobume and Shinpachi left in a hasty sprint.

Passageways were empty and the entire ship was reduced to quietness they could not tolerate. As they ran, their hearts pounded anxiously. Going up to the deck, traces of the storm the previous night remained and daylight was starting to settle in. Craning their heads up, Nobume clutched her katana for no reason other than the need to hold on to something. Shinpachi blanched at the fearful sight and his chest could not contain the rapid beating of his heart. Emotions skyrocketed and the young man felt his body weakening.

Collapsing onto his knees, tears gushed out of his eyes subconsciously and his breaths were jagged. His eyes were fixated on the sight before him where fire and titanium showered from the sky. He clutched anything his hands could reach, which was the giant mutt who had been still in place. Shinpachi wanted to say something, to grunt out any form of reaction but the words were wedged in his throat so forcefully that he felt like throwing up.

A large ship was sinking from the sky and beyond where their horizon could reach.

_No… no… they can’t be…_

No matter how much Shinpachi wanted to deny the possibility, there was no denying it. There was no transmission, no message, no sign—no proof whatsoever.

The next second, a grieving loud cry was heard throughout the deck.

* * *

Okita Sougo never felt this alive in a while.

Whether man or Amanto, as long as he could slay and inflict pain, he was satisfied.

One thing he had not taken into account was that even the most skilled in the arts of combat can be equaled with great advances of technology.

It was ridiculous, really. He was, after all, one of the best swordsmen of the Shinsengumi, if not, the best. How the fuck did he got busted up by a fucking whatever-that-was-that-was-totally-not-an-ordinary-gun? He felt his flesh burning and was reeling in excruciating pain but all the more reason to return back said pain as he fired his bazooka directly onto the fucking gun. He was the fucking sadist here, he needed to remind everyone of that. He could barely stand straight after but the fight was still not over and so, clutching his katana and applying pressure on his wound, he continued forward in the face of the storm.

When the fighting ceased, he was bothered. Sougo wanted more—he wanted to inflict pain some more but cold corpses could never feel such a thing. He grumbled and gripped the rails, supporting his goddamned weight on the cold metal. His burnt flesh was still prickling and was a fucking torture. He realized, sooner or later, he needed to be taken in the medical bay and be operated on. But fuck that, this bitching wound is nothing compared to what he received before and besides, he hated to admit that he got hit good by the enemy, in front of his subordinates especially.

When his dull crimson irises could capture hints of daylight and smoke ceasing, he knew the fight was over. Scurrying back to their own ships, the large vessel of the Amanto was sinking down and crashing towards the sea. He watched as engulfing flames were vaporized by cool, cerulean waters. It was like watching Titanic sink, albeit, a little nastier.

When one of the officers finally noticed the wound, it was Yamazaki Sagaru, the insufferable yet reliable inspector. He kept quiet though and led the captain to the medical bay, away from the eyes of the much intolerable subordinates of his. Sougo’s eyes wandered hazily around the room and he was surprised to see the damned Katsura Kotaro lying in one of the sheets, dressed lazily in a spare uniform of the Shinsengumi with numerous wires coiled and gouging throughout his body.

“Why the hell is he here?” He asked hoarsely.

“He was helping to save the fugitive’s crew—oh wait, I supposed calling that Amanto a fugitive is inappropriate,” Yamazaki murmured, realizing his mistake.

Whether a mistake or not, Sougo did not care. Whatever the orders were, he could only do so much as follow them as a police officer, even if it meant protecting a criminal.

The anesthesia was working its way to his senses. He could not feel a thing but he was also feeling drowsy but he did not want to cave in.

“So, you got hit huh, Sou-kun.”

“Why does everyone need to point out every damn time I get injured?” Grumbled Sougo.

Katsura’s eyes were fixated on his wound at the side. Even Sougo did not want to look at it and just forget but the stench of his own burning flesh was too strong for him not to notice. Katsura scoffed. “You’ll live,” he remarked. “Try not to move too much after though—it’s real bad.”

Glaring at him seemed futile, Sougo also did not bother to reply. His mind was too hazy to function.

“HOLY SHIT!” Shouted one of the officers inside.

“What the fuck—shut your mouth!” Hissed another, “you’re in the fucking med bay!”

His red irises landed on the loud-mouthed officer who was peering up from the porthole.

“Son of a… bitch,” the officer continued to mutter.

A bunch of muffled and inaudible voices followed but Sougo could not bear it anymore. The sedative the medical officer injected in his IV was much stronger. Briefly, his eyes caught Katsura staggering to reach the porthole to look for himself and the next thing Sougo could hear was a loud crash, Yamazaki screaming in panic and the other medical officers’ hoard of voices.

“W-wait… n-no one happened to be in that ship, right?” It was Yamazaki.

“G-Gintoki, Shinpachi-kun and K-Kagura-chan are there…” it was Katsura’s.

Sougo’s eyes flickered open once more. His battle with the sedative still endures. He did not understand what was happening but he was suddenly alert.

“Y-Yamazaki, what the hell is happening?” He asked weakly.

Once Yamazaki’s and Katsura’s eyes landed on him, he fathomed that he should not have asked.

* * *

As the sky was slowly illuminated by subtle daylight, a falling star was near approaching. Red, hot and blazing dashed through the lavender-dyed atmosphere.

Eerie silence subdued.

Every second had been battering angst.

The sea howled, and the last fit of battle cries subsided. Fire had been eroded by the night’s storm and nothing was left but the trail of heavy smoke and the smell of gunpowder, blood and the sea. The air was oddly colder and the tension grew thicker than when in battle. No one dared to move and no one dared say anything. Everyone was stunned at the horrid sight of the plummeting star.

Hijikata Toushiro peered up from the lifeless corpse, having enough of infuriating white and pastel filling his cold vision. Stained in resentful red and shattered from the fight, he looked defeated despite the victory. He witnessed the catastrophe waiting to happen. Kondo Isao was right by his side, wearied and injured, frozen and weak. Both of them paled at the sight, horrified and distressed for they knew.

They knew.

* * *

_'Breaking News: Massive ship on our atmosphere crashes down on Earth.’_

_“Yes, this is Hanano and we’re live—and oh my god, i-if you would look at it, the ship that was once hovering on our atmosphere was shot down by another unknown ship and is currently crash landing down on Earth and it seems to be headed for Edo!”_

_“Wait—it seems that we have gathered satellite footage from earlier and—as you can see, another mysterious ship had arrived and began shooting them down and… wait—they just suddenly left? What is happening?”_

_“We’re back to you, Hanano—”_

_“Y-Yes, i-if you would look at your TV screens, the camera is—oh my—the ship’s on fire! The ship is catching fire and it’s coming down hard and faster… w-we could only hope no one is aboard that ship—”_

_“Immigration Director, do you have a clue of the situation?!”_

_“I-I dunno… w-when the prime minister was communicating with the admiral on board, we received no word after… the prime minister has yet to say anything.”_

_“Uhm… aren’t you supposed to handle Amanto relations? Why is the prime minister dealing with the negotiations herself?”_

_“We tried negotiating but the admiral only answered when the prime minister contacted him—anyway, is this really necessary?!”_

_“R-Right well, our feed will broadcast the ship and… well, hope and pray it does not hit us…”_

“O-Oh no… no…” Soyo was beginning to hyperventilate, “K-Kagura-chan… please… p-please.”

Tears were brimming and prickling on her eyes. This time, she did not suppress her emotions and allowed herself to cry silently. No one could say anything, even forgot how to breathe properly. All their eclectic eyes were glued to the large screen, watching as the ship was falling rapidly down to Earth.

“Please… b-be safe,” she could only hope and pray. “Please…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This week's Friday update will be the last. I'm planning to publish the last two chapters at the same time.  
> As always, leave a review or a kudos when you can, 'cuz it helps.  
> Also, follow me in tumblr: @karavika. I might post some shit there too or if you wanna have a chat, I'm cool with it.  
> I've had lots of fun writing this story, and I hope you guys like it too...


	14. No matter what, close is still not close enough.

> _No matter what, close is still not close enough._

* * *

_There was no use in being discreet._

_There was the olive curtain fluttering with the late afternoon breeze, with the brightest of orange hues soaking the living room._ The way the light disappeared.

_Everything in sight was dyed orange except the unmistakable cerulean orbs greeting with the brightest of smiles—brighter than the sunset, brighter than anything in the universe, even. They popped out in the most obvious way but a yelp of surprise echoed throughout._ We’re still ahead.

_There was the radio perched on the counter, old and almost rusty, humming a familiar song. Dancing and singing, a very similar voice pitched in. Cerulean orbs loomed closer, clumsily reaching out, attempting to mutter out the words that could not be understood._ Signs of a dream turned around.

_Catching that brightest light in pale, orange tinted arms, the world sways in a fantastic fashion._ Next thing you know, the Cold Moon is missing.

* * *

Sluggishly, her eyes flickered open. Disoriented momentarily, her vision was blurred, her mind was fuzzy, her body felt numb. Water trickled down her forehead then to her neck. Everything was unrecognizable and puzzling.

She is not supposed to be here.

She was at home with a little toddler and they were singing and dancing around the living room.

Kagura fumbled around her but her hands only met the cold and wet concrete and metal. She could not figure out where the heck she was, what she was doing here, why she was even here. Weakly, her arms pulled her whole body away from the threatening cracks but all she could feel was pain—unbearable, excruciating pain.

Her instincts were begging her to move, to survive, but everything was failing her. All she could see was weak traces of an outline of something. Wrapped in darkness, there was no telling where she had gone or where she was going to. Her arms were limp, lifelessly pale and full of contusions—that, she did not need to see. Her throat was unusually parched and her innards throbbed intensely that she forgets how to breathe. When she does breathe, all she could inhale was the smell of blood, smoke and sea salt. Kagura bit her lip, suppressing the cries of anguish. Her whole body jolted and her breathing felt too rapid. The world was swirling and she could not even move.

She doubts her Yato strength and abilities could be of considerable, drastic help right now.

The rubble scuffled from somewhere, she could hear. Her head was pounding with the sound but it was better to still feel _something_. With her left strength, her eyes idly looked up and found a flash of red closing in.

“Ore-chan!” She could faintly hear.

“Ore-chan!” She heard again.

Everything was so confusing. Kagura blankly stares up at an image of herself, albeit younger than she was.

“You’ve got to hold on, yes!” She cried, cradling her tender form in her arms.

Kagura breathed and this time, it felt as if fresh air was welcomed into her system. Despite the pain, she smiled, rapidly recalling the events prior to this moment. Slowly, her fingers crawled up to touch the younger woman’s arm. Present Kagura squeezed her body tightly in return, keeping her awake at all costs.

What was precious to her—she remembered. What she protected—she was reminded. Future Kagura was lying and crying but awake in front of her, unable to move, unable to stop. She wanted to say something but her throat was too dry and her brain was unable to function properly at that moment.

“Ore-chan… stay alive… we’re gonna get outta here.” Present Kagura croaked out, “P-Papi… w-we’ve got to find Papi a-and Gin-chan, yes! We’ll all get outta here alive!”

“T-t-thank… you,” future Kagura managed to choke out.

Her Yato abilities were slowly, at a snail’s agonizing pace, regaining her strength but everything was still painful. Still, it was better than not feeling anything.

It was a sign that she was still alive.

Gently, present Kagura laid her down the wrecked floor. The water coursed through her bruised body and she flinched at the pain. Gaining her footing, present Kagura pulled her future counterpart up and let her bruised body settle on her back. She winced at the contact, remembering the injuries she accumulated during the battle and that fateful crash. Weakly, her future counterpart draped her arms around her shoulders. “It’ll be a while before I could get my strength back though, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I can carry any weight,” she replied.

Present Kagura’s steps were struggling. She too, was gravely injured, but she need not to mind herself of it now. Water flooded the compartment at an alarming rate and the floor shifted with her every climb. The younger woman held onto anything she could grasp, steadying her pace as she continued her way up.

What once was a great vessel’s respected bridge was now in tatters. Glass shards and broken wires littered everywhere. The once bulkhead and the overhead were now mashed together in steaming piles of debris and is infiltrated by sea water.

“Papi!” Called present Kagura, “where are you, bald geezer?!”

A shift on the rocks a little below caused both women to snap their heads back and observe. Moment’s silence lasted before, suddenly, a hand grabbed onto present Kagura’s arm, tugging her away. Her body collided with the underside of a control console and she found herself lying down sideways. With her little strength, future Kagura pulled herself up, grimacing at the twinge of her injuries.

“Papi!”

“We have to hurry,” he grunted. “This ship is sinking. We have to get outta here. If we go that way, we might just find sunlight in no time,” he pointed his finger on the opposite direction.

“W-wait—Gin-chan!” Sputtered present Kagura.

Umibouzu huffed, clearly distressed. If he had to admit, he forgot about that perm-head the moment he forced them to carry on. Frankly, there was no indication that he could still be alive. A crash like this could render an unarmed human dead—yes, even hard-headed, berserk warriors. Looking at the bright cerulean eyes his daughter possessed, he knew that both of them will not rest until they know that their precious Gin-chan is safe. He quickly scanned his surroundings, searching for any alternative path nearby but alas, he found none. Quickly turning back to his daughter, he released a sigh, “fine, I’ll go and find him while you two get yourselves out,” he said. “Just keep digging up and if you see daylight, head for it.”

“B-but—”

“We haven’t got much time… every second we waste here, the larger the risk for all of us to drown.”

There was nothing she could do but agree. Umibouzu was scrambling up from the flooding water when they all heard the rocks rumbling just a little ways below. Everyone froze as a figure emerged from the debris, covered in red and white, gasping for breaths.

The next second, the bridge echoed in roaring shots from a blaster gun. The energy beam rebounded around the shattered room, vanquishing as it came in contact with the water. Umibouzu gritted his teeth, struggling to heave himself up, “I lost my damned umbrella now of all times,” he groaned. “We have to get outta here fast.”

“How the hell is that geezer still alive?!” Grunted present Kagura as she propelled herself up through the debris.

Another gunshot reverberated and it bounced at a different trajectory this time. The wall juddered and dust flooded the compartment. The next shot had present Kagura losing grip of the concrete and both women felt into the water. They could hear Umibouzu’s muffled voice calling out to them but everything blanked out when the deep water had pulled them in.

Present Kagura felt her eyes stinging and yet, she kept them open. Looking for her future counterpart, she swam around, reaching out for anything that could, hopefully, be her. All of a sudden, the water jostled and everything budged. Debris was tumbling down the now deepening waters. Gasping for air, Kagura tried to swim up, but the confusing tide made her lost her way. Without even light, she did not know where the hell she was at.

When the water calmed down, so did Kagura. Patiently, she waited for the water to pull her up and sprung into that direction as fast as her legs could paddle. Every second that passed, air was being knocked out of her lungs and saltwater was a stinging son of a bitch to her eyes. Present Kagura made it up the surface just in time and gasped for breaths. “Ore-chan! Papi!” She called the moment she had recovered.

“Kagura!” called her father.

Swimming towards his direction, she hastened. Even without the light, Kagura could recognize her father’s figure and reached out to him. As their hands clasped, another gunshot resounded throughout the room. Umibouzu immediately pulled her daughter and shielded her.

“You… I… will never let… you live…” grunted the raucous voice of Barai echoing from afar.

“Ore-chan!” Present Kagura called.

The water jostled once more and everything around them quaked. Umibouzu immediately grabbed onto the entrance of the overturned passageway just up ahead and pulled his daughter closer. Thankfully, the water in the passageway was shallower and was still traversable, somewhat. Kagura climbed up and was about to yank her father when he pulled away, “I will find her—you go ahead, we’ll catch up,” he instructed, not even giving her a chance to protest as he dived down the water.

Out in the distance, the distinctive color of light blue skin and white admiral’s suit flashed so feebly. Barai’s amethyst orbs glowered through the dark and his bloodied hand aimed the blaster towards her. Quickly, she hauled herself up and was about to run for it when the room quaked once more and water splashed around them. Kagura was knocked off balance and rolled off the slippery floor. Meanwhile, Barai was thrown into the deep waters. Above them, the debris cracked loudly and collapsed into the water.

“P-Papi! Ore-chan!” Screamed Kagura.

The ungodly sight before her had her frozen in place. Everything was crumbling down and sinking deeper. Her body trembled in great fear. Tears were compelling in her eyes but at this point, she could no longer differentiate saltwater and ugly, fat sobs.

Her eyes squinted, dazed by the sudden light flooding in her eyes— _wait, light?_ Kagura forced her eyes to open and surprisingly, found daylight greeting her heartily. It was not much of a fissure but she could definitely pry it open with her Yato strength, she thought. Hope instantly filled her—they might still survive and the thought of it had Kagura lurching back. Head back down, she crawled through the passageway and gazed ahead. Faintly, she found the waters glimmering in the limited sunlight.

“Papi! Ore-chan!” she called out.

Out of the water emerged a pale woman and an unconscious bald-headed man, both looking worse for wear.

“We’re fine!” The woman sputtered.

Swimming sloppily with two aching legs, future Kagura padded towards the present Kagura. She reached out for them and hauled them up the higher ground.

Exhausting all her regained strength, future Kagura collapsed onto the floor (actually, they both realize that it was originally the wall) and panted heavily. “H-He… got hit in the head,” she said in between pants, “I-I couldn’t… keep him… a-awake.”

Slapping the old man repeatedly, present Kagura attempted to wake her damned father. Of all the times he had to get himself knocked out, it was at this crucial moment towards survival. Kagura maybe a Yato, with inhumane strength that could topple everything, but she could not carry two other Yato clansmen whilst climbing up the broken ship and get out of there, in her fatigued and injured state, and expect that everything will go accordingly. She grumbled at the fact that her father was hopelessly incapacitated and the worrying thought of Gintoki still somewhere, without reassurance that he was still alive further frustrated her. Kagura looked over and found her future counterpart struggling to get up, even from her tattered situation.

“We can’t stay here, yes,” her future self grumbled. “We need to get out of here.”

“B-But Gin-chan..?”

“That idiot will know better and survive,” Kagura croaked. “He knows better than to make two girls cry… and besides, we can’t help anyone if we’re also in danger.”

If there is anything she believed in, it was her own words and Gin-chan’s promises.

Heaving her father on her aching back, both women started to climb out towards the fissure where light leaked. It was thanks to this light that they could figure out where to hold on to. Through the glass shards, the splintered metal and rough concrete edges, they punched holes and latched onto anything their hands could reach and propelled up. Forgetting the pain, they drove their bodies to the edge of their limit. As blood and sweat oozed out and dripped onto the rising saltwater, they inched closer and closer. Slowly, that crack of daylight was nearer and within their desperate reach.

Suddenly, a gunshot fired once more, barely missing present Kagura’s extended hand. Retracting her free hand back, her instincts made her clutch his father’s arms tightly. Future Kagura’s face contorted in anger as she looked back and found the barely struggling Barai with his trembling, outstretched hand holding a blaster gun. He fired another, missing the future Kagura inches away. The women impelled faster as they could, dodging Barai’s last attempts to massacre the three of them.

“I won’t let you get outta here!” Barai screamed as he fired more shots.

“Will you please die already, pervert?!” Present Kagura fired back.

“Ore-chan!” Yelled future Kagura.

The next gunshot, much to their horror, was aimed at the overhead. The energy beam bounced off in another direction but the damage remained and they heard a threatening rupture.

Barely registering the sound of another gunshot, present Kagura stiffened as the overhead was rumbling and fizzling.

A shrilling scream. Kagura gazed down.

She approached closer. The overhead finally collapsed.

Their eyes met. Shaken eyes of a rising tide met the still eyes of a scarred sky.

Before sinking back to the abyss, her hand reached out at once, going down with dangerous and hasty steps. The weight she willed herself to bear was just too overwhelming but she will not let go.

“Let go…”

Her eyes were only focused on her. Those eyes implored her but she was not giving in. If there was anything Kagura was good at, it was being a stubborn bitch who doesn’t follow what other people told her to do—yes, even if it was herself.

“It’s okay…” she whispered.

“No… no…” she hissed.

Maniacal laughter echoed throughout the bridge. As the overhead collapsed, it grinded with everything below. The world was shaking in their eyes once more and the water splashed violently. Light flooded their visions and their skins burned at the contact with the rays of the glowering morning sun.

Barai watched the last feats of blazing glory as the younger Yato woman holds onto her father and her future counterpart, clinging onto death. His laughter continued as he aimed his gun again but before he could even pull the trigger, the overhead above him collapses down completely and the shadows buried him. The world he sought crashed and he was enveloped in darkness and eerie fate seemed to have pulled him in, sinking him lower. The Shinra was gasping for breaths, pushing and scuffling with the water and the debris but as the world he still clung onto sunk, he too, cried out his last.

Kagura groaned, almost crying in agony. As her future counterpart’s limp and bruised hand remained in her sopping one, she clutched almost too securely. Her father’s unconscious body was almost slipping away but she bit onto the sleeve of his coat for good measure. No way in _hell_ she was ever letting go.

“You can’t… s-save us… both,” future Kagura choked, “I-I can’t… h-hold on for—”

“No,” she hissed through gritting teeth. “Watch me—watch me!”

Her sad azure orbs looked up and met her gaze. She was glaring down at her with their father’s sleeve clenched in between her teeth and paling, bleeding face.

“You’re going home… y-you’re…”

Tremors once again struck and the ship falls sideways. Her breathing too unsteady and ragged, pain and panic surged through every part of her body, Kagura screamed through clenched teeth and felt her hand slipping from the crevice she had been holding on to.

Her heart hammers as she falls away.

The sky greeted her.

She blinked and felt a rough, callous hand clutching onto her outstretched one. Peering up, she found a figure blocking out the morning sun.

“Don’t you dare let go… damn brat!” She heard him growling.

Her hand instantly wrapped securely around his, “G-Gin-chan…” she cried softly.

Gintoki could barely hold on also but he attempted to heave all three of them up. Kagura could see clearly in this new light, the most dreadful sight.

His injuries horrified her.

However, the morning sun glorified it all. Kagura heard him scream loudly, using every last bit of his strength to pull them up. Her sights shifted to the larger shadows looming over the sky. In her dazed state, she could not distinguish if it was another vessel or if it was Laputa but either way, she knew she had made a good decision not to let go.

“Kagura… hold on a little while longer!” Gintoki begged. “We’ll live… we’ll live.”

Turns out, those Laputa-like figures that closed in on them were actually vessels of the police force. The next images were hazy but she caught glimpses of Gintoki then a bunch of men in white tugging on her arm, harsh white lights and cold metal. It did not register right away that she was no longer on the downed and sinking ship but rather on another one that was pretty much still functional. She almost did not want to let go of her father’s unconscious figure and her future counterpart but the men in white reassured her with calm voices.

Surrounding them was the myriad of voices and shrill white. It was also colder here. Machinery were strewn across the room and men in white scampered around in a dizzying manner. She could not catch up.

_I swear to God, I have never seen this much white._ Kagura grumbled as she squeezed her hands.

Her future counterpart looked at her with half-lidded eyes and a pained expression.

She reluctantly lets go.

Gintoki watched as they were both carried away, not too far away for him not to see. The medical bay was expansive and fully equipped in advanced medicine. Turning back, he caught the younger Kagura as her knees collapse and soon, both of them were kneeling on the ground.

The blood that trailed from her future counterpart’s bleeding body made her sick. Her heart continued to palpitate and her breaths were noticeably hitched. Her dear boss cradled her tightly, whispering reassurances that she could hardly understand still.

Her mind was still so foggy.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Shinpachi running towards both her and Gintoki and they all collapsed on the floor, hugging the life out of them.

“Oi, Shinpachi—”

“Kagura-chan, Gin-san… don’t fucking do that again!” Yelled Shinpachi when he pulled away to get a good look at them. Kagura and Gintoki watched as his ugly tears flooded all over his paling face. “You guys are gonna be the death of me, I swear to God!”

“You’re too noisy, Patsuan,” Gintoki grumbled.

“S-Shinpachi…” Kagura croaked out.

The poor young man pulled his comrades’ faces to his chest and silently wept. He was so relieved, so happy, so gentle—then Sadaharu came along and pounced at them.

“We ought to get you both treated as well,” came another feminine voice.

Nobume stood before them with a smile gracing over her face. She, too, was very relieved that her two friends had also survived the crash. The woman patted the giant mutt and he immediately dismounted the three reunited Yorozuya members, giving a good lick at their paled faces to calm them down. A handful of medical officers assisted Gintoki and Kagura and brought them to the nearest available cot.

The anesthesia made everything number than it already was. Kagura could barely think about anything, could barely hold herself together but at least, the pain she felt was gone. She could not understand what everyone around her was saying, could not fight back as they touched her injuries and could not see anything other than blinding white.

Her eyes wandered around. The worse was already over, was it? She hoped it was.

The storm should have passed by now.

“W-wait… what?” A panicked voice caught her attention.

It was Shinpachi’s.

When she caught his stare, everything felt so wrong. Her insides twisted and her heart began palpitating once more. She had the intuition, she just wished she was wrong. Shinpachi was out of her sight but his expression from earlier egged her to follow.

“W-wait!” Kagura suddenly yelled out.

Scuffling away from the medical officers, the woman rushed to follow Shinpachi. The officers scampered after her but she easily shoved them off. She continued limping, her head veering frantically, in search of Shinpachi. The sight of the Yato was disturbing—her red outfit was tattered and wet, her vermillion hair was tousled and grimy, blood oozed from her injuries and bruises flashed in hues of horrific green, yellow and violet. The potent smell of the ocean reeked and trailed after her, disgust painting over the faces of the medical staff inside. She could hear the protesting voices but she did not heed any of them.

Finding Shinpachi, Kagura was faced with the outmost ghastly sight. The medical officer present eyed her with an apologetic look and quietly exited. She did not care about anything that was happening around her. The world had abruptly stopped as she landed her eyes on the strained and failing form of herself. Shinpachi stood beside the cot, unmoving but quivering uncontrollably. She limped her way inside and grasped the sheets, “Sh-Shinpachi—”

“There you are…” said her future self, “I was waiting for you.”

“W-w-what is happening?” She cried out.

“I t-told you… I can’t hold on… a-any longer,” the older woman choked out.

“Ore-chan! Hold on, please—I told you, hold on!”

From her peripheral vision, Gintoki had rushed inside the isolated quarters. The curtain was pushed back rather violently and his stare was almost intimidating.

The silver-haired man looked just as worse as she was (did not matter which).

“K-Kagura-chan,” Shinpachi voiced out, “I beg you… don’t…”

“Kagura, you can’t die,” Gintoki scowled. “Not on my watch, you bitch! I saved your damned grown-up ass and this is how you repay me? By dying?!”

Gintoki marched up to her dying figure and grabbed the collars of her grey coat. He was glaring at her, too angry to care. Future Kagura weakly lifted her hand, her bony fingers touching Gintoki’s wrist. She could feel him quivering as she patted it gently, “I’m sorry…” she breathed out.

“No, don’t apologize to me, damned brat!” He replied, “just look at all the trouble you caused, you idiot… you should pay for all the destruction you just caused!”

“Gin-chan… I-I’m broke… a-all my money is still i-in the future.”

“That’s why you’ve gotta live and pay us back, damned idiot!”

Another figure came inside the quarters. Future Kagura’s eyes squinted, recognizing that shining bald head straight away, “Kagura!” He called, as he lurched forward and cupped her face. “W-what happened?!”

There was only silence.

Umibouzu gripped her dying daughter’s hair so tightly. “N-no… no…” he kept murmuring.

Gintoki had already pulled away reluctantly, telling himself to give the father and daughter some space. Present Kagura just watched as her future counterpart continue to struggle.

“You protected us..?” Umibouzu managed to huff out.

Future Kagura merely nodded, “I can’t let myself in this timeline die…” she said. “Y-you haven’t experienced an actual life yet so…”

“What the hell are you going on about?” Present Kagura whimpered.

“I-I’m not f-from around here,” her future counterpart continued. “It’s b-best if I go… I can’t bear if I let the people here d-die on my watch.”

Umibouzu clutched his daughter’s face, keeping himself close to her as much as possible. Witnessing her like this reminded him so much of his late wife, Kouka. Everything about her daughter from the future reminded him of her—the gracefulness of her fighting prowess down to her face and her voice (granted, they had the same voice actresses but damn still). Umibouzu—no Kanko, did not want to lose another loved one. He had failed to protect once again and this was the price for it.

Future Kagura stared up to her present counterpart and smiled. “It’s weird though… d-dying with myself by my side.”

“OI! Don’t go all Future Lucy on me!” Present Kagura wailed. “It feels weird for me too, so don’t you dare die!”

“Didn’t you just go Lucy as well?” Gintoki grumbled through sniffles.

“It’s nice though…” the dying woman faltered, “I never thought I would see you all again, but I did… even if it’s the last time.”

Shinpachi sniffed loudly, unable to hold the fresh batch of tears any longer. Future Kagura turned to him, “don’t be sad though… this timeline’s me is still here and I will still live on,” she soothed, reaching out to him.

“B-but…” he caught her hand and clutched it tightly, “I don’t care where you’re from… Kagura-chan is still Kagura-chan! You’re my precious friend—of course, I’m sad!”

He was crying loudly now. His tears were trickling down at her quivering hand. Shinpachi gazed down at the dying woman who was also brimming with tears. “Y-you… you suck at being Happy!” She cried, “don’t cry, Shinpachi—I don’t wanna see your ugly crying face or else… I-I’ll also cry and we’ll all cry, you fucking i-idiot, yes!”

Shinpachi buried his face onto her palm. He could not stop the damned tears. Future Kagura sniffled but her breath got lodged on her throat and she coughed loudly.

“Damn it,” another voice entered. “If I had known that you were gonna be taken out by a gun, I could’ve done that myself.”

The shot she took for present Kagura had hit her backside and it pierced through her ribcage and punctured her lung, near her heart. When the medical officer examined her wounds earlier, she thought it worthless for him to do so. Her lung had already collapsed, along with internal hemorrhaging and other unaccounted injuries during the crash. Her heart is barely functioning anymore and every breath she took was misery but the sight before her made her heart pulsate with glee.

One of the newcomers scrambled to be by her side. His soft, long raven hair tickled at her arm, his gentle hands grabbed her free one. His olive eyes were so hurt. “Leader!” He bawled.

“Don’t look like that, Zura,” she chuckled.

The other newcomer looked pained, with each step he took. Clutching his side, he limped his way beside her cot, his crimson irises goring intensely at her almost lifeless figure.

“What’s with that pained look?” She teased, “sad to see me go?”

“Who was that dumb bitch who promised not to lose to anyone else?”

“I didn’t lose, you idiot… I protected,” she replied. “Besides, you looked more lost that I am—you got hit by one of those damn guns too?”

Sougo glared at her. “You and I still have something to settle,” he hissed.

Future Kagura laughed but it turned into coughs instead. “Settle it with her,” she mumbled, in between coughs.

“Not me, exactly,” he said lowly and Kagura knew exactly what he meant. “Now, you ought to get your ass back home.”

Of course, Kagura wanted nothing more than to go home. She would do anything just to sing and dance with her little toddler once more. She would do anything to capture another candid picture of her son and her damned husband. She would do anything just to be in that apartment and feel home, once again.

But reality was too cruel for her.

Attempting to stop the tears, she turned away from him. Kagura hated that bastard’s face more than anyone else, anyway. In her dying moments, she does not want him to see her pathetic like this. Although, if she was honest, she wanted to relish this last sight of him. For fuck’s sake, he was her husband in another timeline. Sadly, she realized that she had indeed died before she could even say that their limited time together were one of the best years of her short life.

Instead, Kagura dug under the collar of her grey coat. Her fingers coiled around the chain necklace hidden under the layers of clothing and with the last bits of her strength, pulled it off. The chain snapped. Kagura raised her closed fist out towards him. All of the people inside the curtained room ogled at it confoundedly but she couldn’t answer for it now. Though her vision was hazy at most, she could notice the slight shift in the policeman’s bearing.

“Take it,” she whispered. “Y-You… you remembered, yes?”

Sougo could not move.

“T-Take it,” she implored, although it had hurt the last bits of her pride that she had to beg him to.

He reached for her hand. She placed the silver band to his fist and rested her weak hand on top of his. “Thank you, Sougo,” she whispered before she began coughing once more.

The policeman pulled away brusquely, shaken to see her like that. This was not her ridiculous prank anymore, this was real. Even though the present China was still there, watching as her future self dies in front of her, it still does not change the fact that China _is_ dying. He did not want to see her like this. Honestly, he did not want her to die… by anyone else’s hand. This woman was his and his alone to kill.

“Ore-chan…” present Kagura sniffled.

“Don’t worry, you’re still here and… everything will be alright,” her future self replied. She lifted her hand and gently placed it on her present counterpart’s cheek, “I will still live… I have you, yes?”

“I said don’t go Future Lucy on me!” She screeched.

“It’s okay… yes,” she choked out. “T-the future will be kind, I promise you that…”

Present Kagura leaned closer, wanting to near her more. Her fear was showing rather pathetically, according to her future self. Gintoki, Shinpachi, her father and Katsura were gripping the sheets, crying silently. They knew they could not prevent it any longer.

“I have you, yes… I-I trust y-you,” she could barely whisper before everything darkened.

Almost everyone inside called for her name but she could not hear them anymore. She tried reaching for warmth but all she could feel was the cold. Fighting for one more breath tired her and she just could not bear it anymore.

Finally, her tears stopped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The little bits of non-italicized words in the beginning are actually lyrics of "foret noire" by Rie Kugimiya. I'm addicted to that song for some reason. I recommend you listen to it. It's on YT.


	15. Maybe in another reality, the stars and scars will slip away

> _Maybe in another reality, the stars and scars will slip away._

* * *

If she raised her hands to her heart, she would feel it beating.

Her clammy hands remained clutched in a fist instead. There was no life inside her, there was no beating heart—no, that was just throbbing pain. She might be dressed in new clothes, blooming and bright like a spring day but there was too much to conceal.

As it were, above her, the bright summer sun glowered, breathing in life yet she remained jaded. Vermillion hair fluttered with the wind, dancing with the cool sea breeze. In this edge, where the earth met the voluble air, she crouched under the shade of a large purple parasol and hooded eyes.

In front of her was a lump of soil, freshly mounded. There was no marker than a pile of rocks but it was more than enough. It was never meant to be there— _she was,_ rather.

Behind her, footsteps drew closer.

“I did not know her for more than a few hours but I could tell that she is the most headstrong woman that I have ever met,” a voice spoke. “She tried killing me after a mere sight of me, so I’m most certain.”

She chuckled. “Of course I am, yes,” she replied.

“Kagura,” her father spoke, “I’m afraid that I must go.”

This time, she pried her eyes away from the lump of soil and turned to her father with a puzzled gaze.

“We have to find Kamui and his crew,” Umibouzu informed her. “It’s my fault that the remaining Union members are now at his tail and so I need to set things right.”

“Since when did you care for that stupid son of yours?”

The man tilted his head, “I still have a conscience, my daughter,” he replied. “Besides, I can’t have my wife glaring at me from the heavens and threatening to kill me even in the afterlife for endangering her son.”

Truth be told, according to the chain of events, her brother might have been somewhat responsible for her future counterpart’s death, although she could not hold him accountable for it. They still survived even barely from that crash. Every credit of her death went to that bastard Shinra clansman who had the hots for a woman who is literally half his age. She thought that maybe, sadistic desires should not be suppressed next time and the pursuit of proper justice could be ignored for once.

Kagura nodded in understanding, giving her blessing for her father’s intended journey.

“Where will you go though, Konjuku-san?” Popped in another voice.

Shinpachi made himself known as he stepped into the sunlight. Dressed now in his usual clothes, he felt more relaxed.

“Me and my crew decided to join Umibouzu for the meantime,” he replied. “We still do not know what we should do but we’ll figure that out eventually.”

“Just don’t come to Earth bearing anyone’s red flag ever again,” said Gintoki, who strode alongside Shinpachi.

“Duly noted, Sakata-dono,” the Krimon replied, bowing his head courteously.

“When will you leave?” Gintoki asked, shifting his sights to Umibouzu, “I can’t wait for you idiots to finally leave this planet.”

The bald head chuckled. “Sooner,” he replied, “I’m just finishing up the briefing with the prime minister regarding the situation and she promised us a good ship.”

As if on cue, a woman clad in a white uniform stepped into the sunlight, “Umibouzu-san, I’ve come to fetch you on the prime minister’s orders,” she announced.

Everyone’s eyes fell on Nobume.

It was hard to explain the sequence of events without mentioning the time travelling part to the authorities and Umibouzu was not exactly the best when it comes to discussions. The prime minister though, was kind enough to keep most of the details under wraps and had her confidante threaten the other authorities to comply for good measure. Umibouzu knew that this was the last he would see his daughter in a while and although he wanted to spend more time with her, there were more pressing matters at hand.

“Kagura,” he started but trailed off as he did not know what to say.

His daughter stared up at him. “Go and find that bastard, Papi. I trust that you’ll not get yourself and Konjuku killed, yes?” She said. “I’ll see you whenever.”

Umibouzu nodded. Smiling and gazing down for one last time at his daughter, he finally accepted the fact that she was not his little girl anymore rather, if there was anything her future counterpart taught him, it was that Kagura might have come from his seed but the woman before him was more of her mother. She was capable of having her own life, to have her own battles, to become who she wants to be. Even if as an alien hunter like him and with him, she never once stood in his shadow but rather, she stood alongside him but also far and free from him, being the light that he basks in. Supposed that’s daughters for fathers.

“Gin-san, I trust that you’ll keep an eye on her for the meantime.”

“I have been for years, old man,” the samurai replied. “This is no different.”

With that, Umibouzu was satisfied. Promptly, he and Konjuku followed after Nobume and slowly, their figures grew shorter until they disappeared from sight.

Shinpachi was the first the turn away. He silently crouched beside Kagura, taking shade in the large parasol. Even if she did not show it, the young man knew that his friend was still grieving over the loss. It had been a few days already and everyone had settled down after the ordeal. The radiation leak was taken care of, the ships were excavated out of the ocean and the media were reporting every detail all over the news. Gintoki was still crippled and holding onto crutches but Kagura was unblemished and blooming and the samurai wanted nothing more than to strangle the woman and take an extract out of those healing capabilities for himself. It was not fair that he was the only one left injured out of the whole thing—and he was their damn boss, for fuck’s sake.

As his eyes watched Shinpachi and Kagura, he dismissed every bit of it. He would gladly get injured over and over again just to protect these two idiots.

That said, he noticed that Kagura was holding her future counterpart’s large parasol. It was, surprisingly, still intact even after the crash but hers, apparently, did not make it out alive. He watched as her father handed it to her that morning just as he woke up. He did not hear the rest of the conversation though, as he was too busy shitting in the bathroom.

 _Personal_ battles are much more important, according to Gintoki.

“We should go back, Kagura-chan,” Shinpachi suggested, “I bet you’re hungry… we can have _sukiyaki_ hotpot, what do you say?”

His friend—almost like a little sister to him—turned to him with a beaming smile, one that he has not seen for the past few days. “You’re cooking, yes?”

Gintoki also smiled. He could also need some _sukiyaki_ hotpot right about now (granted that he could still have a bite especially with these two hungry kids around and he’s injured very conveniently).

* * *

There was nowhere to hide, not that anyone’s prying or finding. He stared back blankly at Hijikata and Kondo, positively thinking that he was impassive like the usual.

Maybe he was just tired, especially after his injuries weakened him drastically during the past days. He was not allowed any work but rest, as declared by the chief. Besides, an injured captain is as good as useless especially for these consecutive overtimes they were given.

Today, Okita Sougo forced himself to stand upright and attempted to swing a _bokuto_ at their dojo but the bandages were restraining him and the next thing he knew, he was bleeding again. He dragged himself to his room, securing the _shoji_ close and concealing himself from anyone’s curious eyes. His subordinates should know better than barge in the captain’s bedroom, even if announced, if they do not want to face hell’s gates yet. Conveniently, his two commanding officers had to drag him out because of lunch at the mess hall but they found blood stained tatami mats and a haphazard attempt of putting on fresh bandages.

See, Sougo might be the prince of sadists from Planet S and specialized in the subject of bondage but is terrible in the art of self-medication (yes, in every possible way). Actually, terrible was an understatement.

“What the actual fuck, Sougo?” Hijikata groused. Surprisingly, he was not smoking at this moment.

“It’s been taken care of,” he only replied.

“What part of that is being taken care of?” Hijikata fired back, “you bastard, you shouldn’t move yet!”

“Why the hell should I take your orders, Hijibaka?” Sougo grumbled.

Kondo and Hijikata were not much different. They were injured from a scuffle also but they could still move normally despite it. Gashes from a sword and lesions from bullets were infinitely better than burning flesh and an infection.

An operation and a high fever later, Sougo had been uselessly lying on his futon for two days after being discharged from the hospital. The Shinsengumi was very delighted to have their captain back, alive and on the process of healing even though he only glared at them in return.

“Do you want to have a relapse?” Hijikata asked rhetorically just to shut him up. “You’ll be even more of a liability for the Shinsengumi and I’ll be forced to make you commit _seppuku._ ”

He was utterly disgusted at the concern Hijikata was ridiculously showing. He was even more discomforted by Kondo’s unusual silence.

“Toshi, shut up,” Sougo retorted and he felt his wound prickle.

“Don’t call me that,” Hijikata huffed, obviously too stressed already. “Kondo-san, we ought to get him to the med bay immediately.”

There must be a more pressing problem when Sougo noticed that Kondo had been watching him intently as he was getting treated for his reopened wounds.

He tried avoiding it but not when his chief was sitting beside the sheets, boring his gaze furiously at him, it was indeed harder than he thought. Hijikata the Bastard had already left, wanting to feast on his specially prepared lunch, what others would dub as ‘dog shit’. Usually Kondo had the outmost, endearing care for all his subordinates but usually not to the extent of watching very closely as they get treated. Sougo thought it was too creepy.

“Kondo-san,” he decided to speak up after the last of the bandage was secured around his torso, “something bothering you?”

It gave him relief when the chief sighed dramatically and sank his head. It was the first time in thirty minutes that his eyes were not fixated on him—not that he was counting.

“I apologize, Sougo,” he said. “It’s that it has been bothering me for days now…”

 _Ah, of course._ The wound Sougo gained was worst than it looked. If the fever and a few days’ hospitalization were of any indication.

“… that you have this ring in your pocket!” Kondo suddenly lashed out.

Startled, Sougo cringed but his body spasmed instead. He flinched in pain and scowled at his chief. It was a good thing that the medical officer was not present to hear his outburst or else, the 1st Division Captain will be the talk of the whole compound for a few more days—no scratch that, they will never live it down.

“What the actual hell, Kondo-san…?” He groaned, resting his arm over his eyes. “Where’d you get that anyway?”

To Kondo’s horror, Sougo was not denying it. “T-This is… you… Sougo! How come did I not know of this? When did I become so blind and ignorant?!” The man was full on bawling his eyes out now.

“My boy has grown up and he-he is… he is finally moving onto another chapter in his life!” The older man practically screamed.

“Kondo-san,” Sougo raised his voice, “I’m not getting married and that ring has no significance whatsoever.”

This managed to gain the chief’s attention. “What?” He asked dumbly. “Come on Sougo, you don’t have to deny it—so, who is it? Tell me! Tell me!”

If Sougo did not respect the chief to the highest degree, he would have thrown him out and made sure to give him amnesia just so he forgets that there was a ring in his possession. But alas, Kondo Isao was the most important person in his life and he’d damn himself if he hurts the chief.

“Kondo-san… I’m telling you—no one,” he deadpanned. “That ring has no importance, just a mere decoration.”

It was obvious that Kondo was not at all convinced but he relented. He placed the silver band just beside the young man and ruffled his hair just because. The man sighed and left the medical bay promptly, leaving Sougo alone inside.

When he made sure that the chief was out of sight, Sougo removed his arm. He craned his head and eyed the ring. It sparkled in the bright lights of the medical bay and he could make out even the tiniest of details. It was mostly faultless save for some soft scratches he spotted. He scowled—how dare someone sully this damned ring? But he thought, maybe China herself scratched the ring. After all, she was brazen, violent and sometimes incredibly clumsy.

His fingers lightly traced the rim and picked it up.

He did not deserve this ring, he thought.

* * *

She thought she had already escaped the clutches of the bright neon town and boisterous egos but she had been wrong—there was a pair of bright eyes and boisterous ego before her.

Dismounting Sadaharu, she let the dog wander around and play with the nature surrounding them. She would deal with this adversary alone.

Kagura slowly walked up to the edge and sat about an ample distance away from him. They were silent for God knows how long—actually, she began to think that God concentrated all of His divine power just to keep both of them silent.

Sunsets are, most of the time, her favorite part of the day. When the sun would drench her in its blissful glow as the last blaze of its glory for the day. Kagura will almost never look away and let her skin feel the sun. It would never hurt, actually. She remembered every memorable sunset, those days she had spent with her friends and family—those several days she spent with _her_.

They stared at the sunset silently like this too, soaking it all up like a sponge.

Her parasol was large enough to shield both of them, and so she inched closer, taking him in under the shade. The man beside her remained silent but for once, she welcomed the silence between the two of them.

When night had finally settled, the crescent moon was their only source of light. Kagura rested her parasol behind her and settled back comfortably. She decided that they had enough silence. “What are you doing here?”

“None of your business.”

“Okay… then, how did you find this place?”

“ _Danna_ mentioned it.”

“How long have you been here?” She asked once more.

“Could you be quiet for once?”

“No,” she replied bluntly. “Besides, we’ve been quiet for long enough.”

“China, I swear to God…” Sougo snapped his head at her but his words trailed off. He did not really know what he was supposed to say, what he wanted to say. China Girl was too still and looking too solemn and he did not know whether he would want to aggravate her and disturb the peace and quiet for his sanity or not, also for his sanity. He averted his gaze instead and sighed. “Why the heck are you even here, anyway?”

“I just wanted to watch the sunset, yes,” she replied.

Before he could retort, he realized that she must have wanted to watch the sunset with her. The lump of soil behind them was still fresh anyway.

“Can I ask?” Sougo did not protest or groan in any way and so Kagura deemed it fit for her to proceed, “what did she give you… back then?”

“Nothing that should concern you,” he replied.

Kagura puffed her cheeks in annoyance. “You two made a pact or something?” She pressed.

It was taking every bit of his strength to restrain himself from smacking her—he did not want to worsen his injuries further. “Like I said, it—” he stopped abruptly. He realized that China was still China even if present or future or of another timeline. It was _certainly_ concerning her.

Kagura could notice the internal conflict her rival was in so she decided to be merciful for once and kept her mouth shut, admitting to herself that she did not want to argue with him right now.

They both fell into silence once more.

“China, I want to be there the moment you die,” he blurted out of nowhere.

Quoting chapter seven, ‘aghast was an understatement, repulsed was not enough, baffled was sugarcoating it’. Kagura scoffed several times, unable to comprehend just how much of a bastard the man sitting beside her is.

Scratch biological family members, this man right here was the very bane of her existence, no doubt.

Although death threats addressed to each other were far worse than what he had just uttered, Kagura was fuming at the fact that he had to speak like the usual bastard he is at this moment. Wasn’t he the one who complained about wanting peace and quiet? But he himself was instigating a fight by provoking her. Suddenly, she revoked her mercy, having the sudden urge to push him off this cliff and let him drown.

 _Injuries be damned, I hope you get eaten by a fucking shark, yes,_ Kagura glared at him.

What surprised her was that he was looking back at her. There was no contempt nor lopsided smirk in that infuriating face. He was looking impassive as usual but there was seriousness hinted his eyes. Kagura was instantly puzzled by this.

“Y-you… w-well not if you die first, you sadistic asshole!” She shrieked.

“Then you’ll find my ghost beside your deathbed,” he answered.

She was burning red in anger. Redder than the _duangua_ she wore. This bastard in front of her was just the lowest of the low, the ascending king of sadists and bastards, the worse man to ever set foot in this universe and probably a disgrace to his historical counterpart, he was that hair on the ass that had leftovers of your shit, causing a bad rash. Kagura wanted nothing more than to beat up Sougo and throw him over the cliff and feast as the sharks eat him alive until there was no trace of his existence left.

“W-why you…” she scorned, raising her fist aggressively, “I fucking hate you! I swear I’ll kill you!”

“Please China, you don’t need to deny that you love me too much.”

This fueled her anger all the more. “Why the fuck would anyone love you, you self-entitled bastard?” She retorted.

“I don’t know… ask yourself,” he answered with his usual coolly attitude.

Although she did not want to admit it, he had hit a nerve—no, it was not just a nerve. He had fired too many arrows all over her body and she was maimed all over.

Her heart hammered in her chest and she convinced herself that it was just the anger inducing adrenaline in her body. Her blood was boiling, that’s why. She had the violent urge to beat him up, that’s why. No, she was not affected at all by his provocations. Let him dream on and kid himself. There was no way it was true. She would deny it over and over for it was the _absolute truth_.

“Fuck off… just fucking go away,” she hissed. “You’re disturbing the peace.”

“It was not me who started screaming out of nowhere, professing your love for me blatantly,” he replied.

“Dream on, fucking bastard,” she hissed.

Sougo really wanted to smack this woman beside him right now. If it weren’t for his damned injuries and the limited movement he was allowed, he would have beaten up the damned China Girl already. However, he suddenly remembered why he had brought himself here. It had been difficult to escape the compound and walk around Kabuki District in his current condition. He composed himself, stood up and began walking away from the edge of the cliff. He could feel Kagura’s glare prodding down at his back but he did not care.

Kneeling down just before the lump of soil. He wordlessly gazed at it. _Danna_ had told him earlier that day when they met coincidentally at the _dango_ shop that she was given a quiet funeral and they buried her ashes on this quiet cliff. He was not present for he had collapsed a little minutes after the future Kagura had died. He woke up three days later in the hospital, after a supposed fever. Now, a week after her death, the destruction she left behind had been mostly cleaned up. He fumbled through the pockets of his clothing, finding the certain piece of article.

 _Besides, at this age, I was still in denial…_ her words echoed through his mind. He pulled out the silver band she had given to him moments before her death and eyed it carefully. Under the moonlight, it shone all the more brightly. _Seeing you again, like this, just makes me homesick even more._

 _I regretted not saying a proper goodbye_. He was angry at her. How dare she leave him and a three-year old son without warning? They both never knew that she had died and never will know why. He placed the ring down the soil and buried it. _I don’t want a scuffed ring, future China._

“China,” he called, noticing her approaching figure behind him, _I ain’t waiting five years, you idiot._

“What did you do?” She asked, bending down closer.

He could feel the ends of her vermillion locks tickling at his nape. “How does waiting five years sound to you?” He asked instead of answering her question.

“I don’t understand,” she replied gingerly, boring a confused look.

“I don’t expect you to,” he replied. “Just answer the question.”

A moment’s silence before. “It sounds like shit to me,” she replied.

“Then marry me… right now.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

The silence lasted long enough for Sougo to stare back at her and capture the moment under the moonlight to memory. Her flushed pale face, vermillion hair cascading down her shoulders, the stiffness of her limbs. It was hilarious, he thinks.

“In the other reality, our counterparts only got hitched up five years from now,” he explained. “You could say it is inevitable… but like I said to future China, I ain’t waiting five years.”

She averted her gaze as quickly as she could. If Sougo had his way, he would not let the silence linger for so long. He was getting impatient and the China Girl was too stunned to say anything.

“I-In another reality…” she mumbled. “Another reality…”

When the woman’s expression changed from a blushing mess to becoming unusually enlightened, it was his turn to be confused. As her cerulean orbs returned to meet his crimson irises, he noticed the life in her eyes had suddenly returned. He doubted that it was because of his blatant proposal. Her stare did not last long when she tipped her head up and called for her giant mutt before grabbing him to sit behind her.

“Hold on tight, yes,” she said before Sadaharu sped away.

* * *

“Old man! Old man!” Kagura’s voice echoed on the forcibly opened _shoji_.

“You want me to arrest you for B&E, damn bitch?” Sougo’s voice trailed after.

“Why the hell are you dragging us into this, Kagura?!” Gintoki shouted next.

“Kagura-chan, what do you think you’re doing?!” Shrieked Shinpachi.

The three men were dumped on the floor offhandedly by the giant mutt. Sougo groaned, feeling a sharp pang from his injuries. Meanwhile, Gintoki and Shinpachi looked scruff, after being towed by the crazy woman and her dog around Kabuki District. They watched in horror and confusion as Kagura forced herself to enter the mechanic’s shop, calling out the owner’s name repeatedly.

_Bark!_

“Don’t you fucking dare, you conspirator!” Gintoki snapped, jabbing his finger on the giant white mutt, however the dog just bit his whole arm in reply.

Kagura rifled around the old mechanic’s shop, calling for its owner but all she found were rusty worn-out and broken robots and various tools. In her frustration, she was ready to tear the place upside down just so the old mechanic shows himself but it was a good thing two humanoid androids showed up just in time from the entrance to the basement.

“Kagura-sama… everyone,” Tama addressed.

“So, you guys are here, finally,” Kintoki remarked. “We were just about to get you.”

“Where is the old man?” Kagura asked, “I need to speak with him, yes.”

“Follow me,” Kintoki replied, nodding in the direction of the basement door.

Going down the old man’s basement, the intense smell of burning metal, oil and other chemicals filled their lungs. Below, Kagura could spot the old mechanic standing in front of his invention.

When Kintoki spoke, announcing their presence, Gengai turned to them and sprouted an excited smile. “Finally you’re here! I do apologize that the machine took longer to finish but now I’m confident it’s complete.”

“But Gengai-san, I-I’m afraid that’s useless already, future Kagura-chan is…” Shinpachi trailed off, not wanting to finish it.

Gengai nodded solemnly, “I know, but I have a solution that I think the little missy had also figured out herself,” he piped.

“Kagura-chan?” Shinpachi raised a brow.

The said woman turned to her companions with a newfound resolve. The moment Gintoki noticed the budding brightness in her cerulean eyes, he admitted that he had freaked out a little.

“I’m going back in time to save her,” she declared.

The three gaped at her as if she had just grown a new head.

“To give you a broader explanation, little missy here is going back in time and open another timeline where the missy stays alive. Little missy would not need to do anything else then, the missy could still get back to her own timeline safe and sound,” Gengai explained. “I’ve already input here the exact calculations so she gets sent to the day of the battle.”

He turned to the machine and fumbled with the controls, “I was wondering how none of you thought about consulting me about this before… it’s like you’ve forgotten my purpose here,” the old mechanic continued. “You hurt this old man’s feelings.”

“A-Are you sure about this, Kagura-chan?” Shinpachi stammered, “you cannot afford mistakes here.”

“You’re coming with me so we can make sure, yes.”

 _Bark!_ Sadaharu chipped in.

“Wait—what?” Shinpachi blanched.

Although Gintoki wanted to come along, he was still very injured and wrapped in disgusting bandages. Sougo was also worse for wear which leaves the shocked Shinpachi the only eligible person to go along in this journey.

“Okay so, I’m sending the missy, the glasses and the dog back a week,” Gengai announced as he and Kintoki typed in the finishing calculations in the machine.

“W-Wait!” Shinpachi hollered attempted to pull away in defiance but Kagura and Tama had already dragged him up the platform.

“Don’t get killed, damn brats,” Gintoki cheered apathetically. _Now you brats are the one getting sent back and forth in time._

“Don’t lose this,” Gengai instructed, handing them both a small mechanism that resembled a wristwatch. “This’ll be your ticket back to this timeline… after you completed your mission, just press the button and you’ll be automatically sent back here.”

Gintoki watched silently as his two brats and the damned dog got geared up by Tama and took their respected places on the platform. Kagura looked determined than ever before, Shinpachi looked nervous meanwhile Sadaharu was too eager. He never thought that he would actually witness this—that his damn brats were the ones completing a mission of the Yorozuya without his assistance, that he was actually the one helpless to do so. As the machine whirred and buzzed, as Gengai counted down, as light engulfed Sadaharu, Shinpachi and Kagura, he could only smirk proudly at what they have become.

The moment they were gone in a blink of an eye, light vanished and the machine calmed until it purred softly in their ears.

“So _Danna…”_ Sougo began “… what do you think about me getting hitched with China?”

Suddenly, his dead coffee eyes turned to wide saucers.

Blood rushed to his silver head and it was boiling so intensely. His body felt like being on fire in anger and steam was exhausting off his ears. The next moment, a loud whir was heard, halting Gintoki before he could even begin his outburst. When all eyes in the room turned back to the platform, they saw Sadaharu, Shinpachi and Kagura, looking all grimy, wet, tattered and bloodied but there was a satisfied grin plastered on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the final chapter!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own jackshit. I own nothing than the plot and OCs. I also don't own the references and parodies I used for this story, mainly Marvel and Star Trek.
> 
> Thank you, to those who waited every week for a new update, to those who had left a comment/review and kudos, to those silent readers, yes, I see you. Thank you too, for those future readers of this work after the final publication date. I've had a lot of fun writing this story and I hope you had fun reading it.
> 
> As always, review/criticism and kudos are welcomed 'cuz it helps. Helps me be motivated to write.
> 
> Check out my profile for more Gintama works. I currently have two other published works but I'm currently brainstorming new ones. It might take time before I publish again but, I will eventually.
> 
> follow me on tumblr: @karavika - it's fairly new and empty but I might publish works there too. Also, chat me there if you want.
> 
> Thank you again, and till the next work.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I appreciate the kudos, comments and criticisms. Please tell me if I went OOC with the characters or if I had some grammar issues. I'll have them fixed ASAP. English is not my first language so I'd appreciate the help.
> 
> The story description, tags and characters may change as I go along the story.
> 
> Gintama belongs to Hideaki Sorachi. I don't own jackshit except the plot and OCs. I'm just a brat with nothing to do during quarantine.


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